F1 pundit claims part of Red Bull RB20 launch was 'FAKE'

Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez and Christian Horner at RB car launch event 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

F1 pundit claims part of Red Bull car launch was 'FAKE'

The RB20 has some noticeable differences to its predecessor

Tyler Rowlinson

Sunday 18 February 2024 16:57

Red Bull unveiled their highly anticipated 2024 challenger on Thursday as they hope for another incredible season like last year – but an F1 pundit has said that he believes one aspect of the new car will not be present for the season's start.

2023 was an utterly dominant year for the Milton Keynes-based team, as they won 21 of the 22 races in the season, with Max Verstappen winning 19 of them as he cruised to his third consecutive world title and the team’s sixth constructors’ championship.

Red Bull were the final team to reveal their car for 2024, with the car launch season being overshadowed by a hectic winter, which saw Lewis Hamilton complete a shock move to Ferrari for 2025.

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But that did not stop the hype for the RB20, as fans and pundits alike were excited to see the new car that the team will be hoping will be an improvement on its predecessor – but the new design certainly raised eyebrows.

The 2024 car looks strikingly different to the RB19 that dominated last season

Pundits have speculated that part of the car in the launch was fake

Pundit claims fake part of RB20

Many teams have taken inspiration from the design of the RB19, but Red Bull unveiled a car that has some striking differences, including a move to a ‘zeropod’ design with the sidepods reminiscent of the Mercedes W13 and W14 that were tried and scrapped by the team.

And F1 journalist Alex Kalinauckas noticed that the car’s floor displayed in the launch looked almost certainly fake.

Speaking on the Autosport Podcast, Kalinauckas discussed what many other journalists were thinking when the car was revealed: “The car that everybody’s seen today is the launch spec car, it’s what the team start the season with,” he said.

“It’s very much not got its real floor on it. I think the chatter amongst everybody gathered here was that very much a fake floor, it looked like it was absolutely solid.

“I just can’t imagine they would waste the carbon fibre on it, but yeah don’t expect the team to be starting the season with that.”

Red Bull Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Ferrari