The Milton Keynes-based squad is coming off the back of a truly dominant 2023 campaign where it won all but one race en route to capturing both the constructors’ and drivers’ crowns with Max Verstappen.
But despite the scale of its record-breaking feats, the team is not getting complacent that its current advantage will be locked in for another season – so it is pushing hard to eke out further gains over the winter.
And having stopped development early this season so it could concentrate on its future project, there has been talk that the RB20 will be a step change in design and looks from the current car.
Speaking at the FIA Prize Gala in Baku, world champion Verstappen felt that while the RB19 was so good, there were some fairly clear areas where gains could be found.
“I don't think you can talk about percentages or whatever, but there are always things that we can do better,” he said.
“We know that the car has been very, very dominant, but we've also seen a few weaknesses in the car where I think we can do better. And that's what we're working on for next year.”
Team boss Christian Horner believes that with no major rule changes into 2024, there is a good opportunity for Red Bull’s rivals to catch up – which is why it was pushing to improve so much of the RB19.
“I think with stable regulations, we know that the field will converge,” he said. “We've seen that at different points during the course of the past year. So for us, we have to improve and we have to keep evolving.
“I think all aspects of RB19 are being looked at to evolve into RB20, and hopefully make it even stronger because I'm sure that's what our competitors will be looking to do.”
Don’t measure improvements by numbers
Red Bull and Verstappen know that bearing this year’s achievements in number terms will be almost impossible – and is perhaps something that will never be done.
However, the team feels that even if it doesn’t win another 20 races in 2024, there is still room to feel that it has done a better job.
Verstappen said: “Realistically, of course, it can't be much better than what we have achieved. But I think it's not always about trying to win 20 races.
“It’s also about just trying to find improvements within yourself, and within the car. And if that means next year we have improved the car and we can fight for the championship again, but you only win 10 races, that's also fine.
“It's just been also that the competition around us has been quite up and down. One weekend it was this team, then the other week it was another team. So, I expect next year people are learning a lot with this new regulation as well that it will actually be quite a bit closer.”
