With testing revealing intricacies hidden at launch, we see cooling innovations, front wing diversification, adjustable suspension and returning design solutions
JAKE BOXALL-LEGGE
There’s always an element of secrecy and gamesmanship in Formula 1’s launch season. Teams are keen to only show the car in a state that doesn’t give up their development secrets, although it’s inevitable that these will be revealed when pre-season testing begins. But, if nothing else, the mystery at least delays the point at which other teams can analyse a solution and implement it into their own simulations.
As the covers were taken off, the ‘proper’ 2024 cars finally burst onto the scene last week in Bahrain. A handful of teams had already revealed key features in their shakedown runs but, thanks to that earlier secrecy amid the launches, there were lots of new technological advancements to dissect. Now that F1 reaches its third season with the 2022-defined ruleset, the wealth of talented designers across the field are starting to get a handle on how to exploit the letter of the law but perhaps sidestep the intent of the regulations.
With pre-season testing as short as ever, teams don’t entirely have the liberty to trial completely different specifications, so it’s likely that 99% of what was seen in testing will translate into their respective Bahrain Grand Prix configurations. Ensuring that the car remained reliable over the three days of testing was hence of paramount importance, allowing the engineers to collect reams of data throughout and start decoding it in preparation for the following week.
What was new in terms of technological tweaks ahead of the new season? Let’s assess the most interesting points of development over the winter.
Red Bull’s inlets finally revealed
At the launch of its RB20, Red Bull avoided its recent tactic of pushing out an old car in a new livery and instead chose to demonstrate a representative model. The caveat was that the team had taken great pains to keep its sidepod inlets hidden from view, either through lighting at its launch or liberal use of the burn tool in Photoshop. But there’s no hiding once testing begins, and the RB20’s full form had to emerge from the shadows at some point.
After pioneering the underbite inlet arrangement, Red Bull switched to an overbitten leading edge to the sidepods with a short, wide inlet recessed into the undercut like a letterbox. Underneath, two vertical slots are fed by the flanks of the chassis,
