Red Bull stopped developing their 2023 RB19 car mid-way through the last season, and their development driver, Jake Dennis, revealed exactly when.
The way Red Bull dominated the 2023 season was something unprecedented, as the team won 21 of 22 races held during the previous F1 season. As a result, they sealed the World Constructors' and Drivers' Championships early in the season, allowing them to focus on their next car earlier then their competition.
Still, Red Bull Racing revealed the launch date for RB20, their 2024 car, only recently, but in a recent interview with Mirror, Jake Dennis, the team's development driver, admitted that they turned their attention to RB20 quite early in the season.
As a development driver, who spends time on the simulator, Dennis knows a lot about the team, and his insight into how Red Bull approached the last season is very valuable.
"I'd be lying if I said we didn't switch our attention to the 2024 car quite quickly."
The fact that the team switched focus to their 2024 car was something that was rumored around the paddock, but one answer that many didn't have was when the team really stopped developing their car.
Dennis now revealed that it happened already after the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix, which paradoxically, was the only race that the Austrian team didn't win during the 2023 season.
The fact that they stopped their car's development immediately after that only shows their confidence in what they do, and that they knew that the unsuccessful weekend was only result of the track and wrong setup combination, rather than competition catching up.
"We didn't do any development on the 2023 car after Singapore."
In 2024, Red Bull will attempt to add another Championship trophies to their cabinet, while Dennis will defend his title in Formula E, which he won by 30 points ahead of Nick Cassidy last year.