Max Verstappen despatched shivers down the spines of his opponents with an ominous assertion about Crimson Bull’s latest weapon: the RB20.
Following Crimson Bull and the Dutchman’s banner 2023 marketing campaign, marked by the latter’s 19 wins and third world title, Verstappen is already the clear favourite for 2024.
And his evaluation of the RB20 – and his efficiency on the opening day of testing in Bahrain – solely fuels that fireside.
“For positive the automotive is healthier than final 12 months’s automotive, however I feel everybody on the grid has a greater automotive than final 12 months,” Verstappen mentioned.
“The crew believes with how the automotive is for the time being there’s extra potential to seek out. That is now for us to unlock.”
Verstappen’s final remark is maybe probably the most chilling because it means that the RB20 may simply be the tip of the iceberg.
Crimson Bull has room for enchancment, and with their observe document of innovation and growth, unlocking that potential might be devastating for the competitors.
Crimson Bull wasn’t afraid to shake issues up for the 2024 season. Choosing a daring new automotive idea, they aimed to remain forward of the ever-evolving competitors.
Requested if he was shocked to see his crew, which had been such a dominant pressure final season, push the boundaries with the design of its RB20, Verstappen mentioned: “Effectively, on the time I wasn’t even too involved with that to be trustworthy.
“I noticed the drawings and thought, ‘So, that appears good’, however truthfully I used to be pondering extra concerning the upcoming holidays on the time!
“In the long run, it does not matter what the automotive appears to be like like both. However what I do like quite a bit concerning the crew is that they have not been conservative, and that they’ve pushed the bounds once more by altering the idea.”
Crimson Bull’s investigation of the zero-sidepod design method unsuccessfully exploited by Mercedes has added a shocking twist to the RB20’s idea.
Verstappen is clearly unfazed by the comparability, emphasizing his religion in his crew’s personal imaginative and prescient of the daring sidepod conception.
“I absolutely belief what the folks in our technical crew are doing,” he mentioned. “They’re assured that that is higher than all the pieces else that they’ve examined within the wind tunnel over the winter.
“So long as it really works, I do not even care what the automotive appears to be like like.”
Maintain updated with all of the F1 information by way of Fb and Twitter