F1 winner reveals how crucial Red Bull RB20 'failure' will affect team

Sergio Perez, Red Bull, Hungary, 2023 — Photo: © IMAGO

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F1 winner reveals how crucial Red Bull RB20 'failure' will affect team

The former driver has revealed how the team could be derailed if the car fails in testing

Tyler Rowlinson

Sunday 4 February 2024 13:53

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Former F1 driver and race winner Johnny Herbert has outlined how a potential failure in the RB20’s performance could affect the team heading into 2024.

Red Bull’s 2023 campaign with the RB19 was sheer domination, winning all but one race in the season as they stormed to their second consecutive constructors title – sixth as a team – and Max Verstappen cruised to his third world title in a row.

With their success brings a limited amount of time they are permitted in the wind tunnel and other preparations – hence why they began focusing on the RB20 halfway through last season.

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The team stumbled into an early pre-season problem after their chassis was reported to have failed a crash test, but current Sky F1 pundit Herbert has revealed why it won't be too much of a concern for the team.

Max Verstappen claimed his third world title with 19 wins out of 22

Herbert: RB20 failure could affect preparations

Speaking in an interview with Mega Dice, Herbert expressed his scepticism about the F1 teams and their ability to forecast their performance at this point in the year.

He went on to say that while it’s impossible to tell where their rivals are in terms of being able to challenge them, Red Bull could stumble in their tracks if the car experiences difficulties in testing.

“Red Bull are just trying to find more performance out of the car,” he explained.

“Sometimes you are always going to be on the edge. When it does fail it doesn’t help the preparation. It is a good thing to get it done early.

“Once Red Bull sort themselves out it won’t affect them because they know there is a performance to get from the car. It is an important aspect of F1 to ensure the cars are able to absorb the unexpected nowadays in terms of safety.“

Red Bull Max Verstappen Johnny Herbert Sky F1