Giedo van der Garde shares which parts Red Bull might have ‘stolen’ from Ferrari and Mercedes

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Former Formula 1 driver Giedo van der Garde believes that Red Bull might have stolen some ideas for their 2024 car from rivals Mercedes and Ferrari.

Max Verstappen flew to the top of the timing sheets during day one of pre-season testing, but the margin over the rest of the grid was very concerning.

Speaking on Viaplay and relayed via Motorsport.com, Van der Garde has shared his thoughts on the Dutchman’s RB20.

Van der Garde on what he thinks Red Bull have stolen from rivals

Every team on the grid takes inspiration from their rivals to try and develop the best car possible.

Unsurprisingly, there are plenty of cars on the grid that look a lot more like the RB19 than there were last year.

Red Bull developed a simply incredible car last year, but they’ve made plenty of changes for 2024.

Max Verstappen’s performance on day one of pre-season testing seemed to suggest that they worked given the gap he built up over the rest of the grid.

However, Sergio Perez’s morning was less straightforward as he suffered a brake fire in the opening hour and kept having to pit for repairs and changes.

Giedo van der Garde believes the Red Bull have stolen a couple of ideas from their two closest rivals from 2023.

We know that Adrian Newey was a big fan of one key part on the Mercedes that has been shown off in Bahrain already.

If Red Bull can combine the best parts from their rivals as well as continue to go in their own direction, then they’re going to be incredibly difficult to stop.

Red Bull still taking inspiration from the rest of the grid

Talking about the more technical aspects of the 2024 car, Van der Garde said: “We actually have two cooling systems. There is an S-duct, which was somewhat stolen from Ferrari. As a result, the air goes to the rear.

Van der Garde also noticed a difference in the cooling to the radiator on the Red Bull and added: “It has become a lot narrower compared to last year. It is purely to make the sidepod run upwards very aggressively, to make the car smaller and narrower and to let the airflow go exactly under and along the car.

“That is another new thing, which we haven’t seen yet, from Adrian Newey.

“That was of course a bit stolen from Mercedes.

“What they have done very cleverly is to create a kind of air duct in it. We have not seen that before.

“You see that they can direct the airflow to the rear next to the rider. You see that the air flows through the tunnel with a nice flow. is led to the back. What they have now created is super smart and efficient.”

The rest of the grid would have quickly noticed the same thing as Van der Garde about the newest Red Bull car and although they’ll disagree that any parts have been stolen, there are some similarities.

That’s the nature of Formula 1 though and the closer the cars are design-wise, the closer they should be on track.

Ultimately, F1 fans want to see the closest racing possible and if that’s what happens in 2024, then we’re in for a great season.