NEW RED BULL – SAME BUT DIFFERENT

New Red Bull – Same but different – Image: Supplied

The 2021 Red Bull RB16B is the same but different from the 2020 RB16.

By DAN KNUTSON

With the regulations requiring the teams to essentially use the same chassis and many other components across the two seasons, Red Bull said the RB16B is “same, same but different” when it revealed the first images of the car.

Red Bull and Max Verstappen won the 2020 season finale in Abu Dhabi. Asked just after that race if the squad was planning on carrying that momentum into 2021, team principal Christian Horner replied: “I certainly hope so, because on that basis it’s not a start from scratch again because a lot of the car does carry over.

“When we start again in (testing) in a couple of months’ time, it is going to be pretty much where we left here with one or two upgrade on it. It’s the first time in our history that we will call the new car 16B as opposed to 17, because so much, about 60 per cent of the car, is carried over.”

There are plenty of differences between the two models. The rules cutting back aero downforce, especially at the rear of the car, have created plenty of work for the engineers who are trying to recoup that downforce.

Red Bull has also tried to make the rear downforce levels more consistent for the drivers, which was a problem last year.

Red Bull is also planning on a more consistent haul of points with the RB16B now that Sakhir Grand Prix winner Sergio Pérez has replaced Alex Albon as Verstappen’s teammate.

One obvious difference between the two models is that the sponsor name Aston Martin is off the car, and there are more Honda logos on the car. Honda, in its last season with Red Bull and AlphaTauri, has provided the teams with new and improved power units.

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