Sky Sports expert shares what makes her ‘highly suspicious’ about Red Bull’s 2024 launch car

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Sky Sports technical expert Bernie Collins has shared that there’s something about Red Bull Racing’s 2024 car that has made her slightly suspicious.

Red Bull were the final team to launch their car this year and there were a few big changes that took many people by surprise.

Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 Podcast, Collins suggested that they may have been bluffing when revealing a couple of changes but if they weren’t, then it’s going to be fascinating to see how they get on.

Collins ‘suspicious’ about Red Bull’s 2024 launch car

When all ten teams take to the track for pre-season testing in Bahrain on Wednesday, it’s going to be fascinating to see just how much each car has changed from 2023.

Only Williams didn’t share their new car during launch season with the team just showcasing their new livery.

They’ve since taken to the track for a filming day and although we’ll learn a few things from three days of testing, we’ll have to wait until qualifying in Bahrain to see how much each team has kicked on.

Red Bull could have easily taken their 2023 car into 2024 and been in a very strong position, but Collins has spotted several big changes.

However, there’s a chance that those have only been introduced to try and throw off their rivals.

There’s already talk that the floor on the RB20 we’ve seen so far is fake and they wouldn’t be the first team to share one part during a launch event and then run a very different-looking car on the track.

All eyes on Red Bull at Bahrain test

Speaking about the RB20, Collins said: “So, I think years in F1 have maybe made me suspicious so let’s see the car that rocks out on day one in Bahrain because I’m not sure it’s going to be that car.

“So, I’m highly suspicious but let’s see. If they do rock up with that car then you know it’s a brilliant, brave move because they could have easily continued to develop the car they had and that would have been I think the safer bet.

“The worry is and we obviously know Adrian Newey and the Red Bull team are very strong aerodynamic designers, they’ve proven that year after year.

“But Mercedes obviously felt it could work when they put that first car out with it, they obviously had enough simulation data, aero data and all of these things to think this car is the best we can do.

“So, something is amiss between what they thought that car could do and what it could actually do and have Red Bull done the miss in the other direction?

“I’m not surprised they’ve been working on it, because as soon as you see another car with a very different concept, you start to look at, have we missed something and are you working on it? Even a slower car, you start to think, are we missing something?

“So, I’m not surprised they’ve been looking at it in the wind tunnel, I’m not surprised they’ve been experimenting with it thinking they can get more out of it.

“I’m just surprised they’ve gone with it. If they go with it, they’ve clearly seen something that means they can beat their previous developed car but is there a miss in the simulation that has also convinced Mercedes over the past two years to stick with it?”

Verstappen and Perez will be desperate for RB20 to match RB19’s success

Technical expert Gary Anderson has agreed with Collins that some aspects of the 2024 Red Bull car are confusing.

They’ve attempted to perfect a system that Mercedes persisted with for two years.

Adrian Newey clearly saw something in their ideas and if anyone is going to unlock that potential, it’s him.

Damon Hill was left perplexed by their ‘zeropod’ idea, but if it pays off, all of a sudden the rest of the grid will be rushing to copy them once again.