Horner Uncovers What Made Red Bull In 2023 So Much Faster Compared To 2022

F1
Saturday, 16 December 2023 at 21:00
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RB19, one of the fastest and most successful F1 cars in the history of the sport, allowed Red Bull to win 21 out of 22 races in 2023, and Christian Horner revealed what made it so quick.
Red Bull was already the fastest car in terms of race pace in 2022 and went into the 2023 season with a small headstart over all the remaining teams on the grid.
However, everybody expected other teams to catch up to the team from Milton Keynes and close the gap, but the exact opposite happened.
Red Bull Racing won 2023 in an even more dominant manner. No other team could match the race pace of the Red Bull's RB19 (2023 car). The team's principal Christian Horner said about the car:
"What you have to remember is that with the RB19, there were a large number of components that came from the RB18: gearbox, a large percentage of the suspension, and half of the chassis."
The British team principal revealed many components of the car stayed the same and the team focused mainly on the weight of the car:
"It was effectively a cut-and-shut for this year. The most significant thing that we were able to address was the weight. We managed to get 20 kilos out of the car coming into this year and tidy up some of the imperfections."
In general, it is estimated that a one-kilogram difference in F1 cars equals 0.03 to 0.04 seconds per lap advantage. So Red Bull probably gained roughly 0,8 seconds per lap (significant difference) just by reducing the weight of their car. Horner added:
"It was not one specific area that you could take the weight off. It was just marginal gains in all areas. I think that was probably the fundamental difference between the 2022 car and the 2023 car."
Other teams like Mercedes mentioned they plan to make a significant difference in their car design going into 2024. Do you think Red Bull will stay the fastest next season?