2016 Formula 1 World Champion Nico Rosberg has revealed that Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes “everybody” will copy the RB19 next season, therefore reducing their advantage.
Whilst Ferrari were able to compete with Red Bull for the vast majority of 2022, the Austrians have received no challenge from any team this season, due to their superiority.
The RB19 is undoubtedly one of chief technical officer Adrian Newey’s greatest designs and will likely be remembered as potentially the best car to ever compete in the championship.
As things stand ahead of this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, the Austrians are yet to be defeated at the 14 completed races, 12 of which were won by Max Verstappen.
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There are genuine beliefs amongst the paddock that Red Bull could become the first team in the history of the sport to win every race, although Singapore will likely be their biggest test.
Regardless of whether they win at the Marina Bay Circuit this weekend or not, Red Bull will very soon claim a second consecutive Constructors’ Championship.
Defending that title is expected to be a challenge next season in the eyes of Horner, who thinks the field will be closer if other teams copy their dominant design.
“Christian Horner was telling me after the race that he thinks everything is going to be much closer next year because everybody is just going to copy their car,” Rosberg said on the Sky Sports F1 podcast.
Some teams like McLaren have already started to copy Red Bull’s design, whilst Aston Martin too have taken inspiration from it.
McLaren introduced several similar features to Red Bull at the Austrian Grand Prix, where they suddenly became podium contenders.
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Rosberg is convinced that the way to catch Red Bull is by copying them “as much as possible”, something the German admits McLaren have started to do.
“I think all teams need to do that, understand exactly what Red Bull is doing there and probably just go down that route as much as possible,” added Rosberg.
“Which is what McLaren has done to some extent, and it just worked wonders for them straight away. So, all teams are going to be trying to do that.”