Red Bull shed light on differing appearance of 2023 cars

Red Bull designed the best car in 2022, storming to both championships once they managed to reduce the weight of the RB-18 in the early stages of the season.

The 2022 season presented engineers of teams up and down the paddock with the daunting yet exciting task of designing a car under drastically different regulations, as Formula 1 begins a new era.

Different teams took different approaches as every team attempted to outwit the rest at the start of the season, with some teams even sporting next to no sidepods as they explored a different development path to the rest.

Red Bull were the team who managed to take advantage of the change in regulations the most, leaving Ferrari and Mercedes in their wake as they quickly overcame reliability and weight issues with the RB-18.

Mercedes have not been shy to admit that they got their design path wrong in 2022 when trying to understand the new regulations, leading Red Bull chief engineer Paul Monaghan to expect some radical changes to some cars’ appearances next season.

READ: Kelly Piquet opens up on plan to have kids with Max Verstappen despite being mother of ex-driver’s child

“I don’t think the cars will have an identical appearance. I don’t think we’re at that point yet,” claimed Monaghan

“The regulations govern the shape more closely than they used to. But there are some differences, particularly if you look at the Mercedes, the Ferrari and the Red Bull car.

“There are some significant differences. There are regulations changes coming along for next year, are we going to all have the same solution at race one? I doubt it. That doesn’t seem to be the way of our sport.”

Mercedes’ design in 2023 caused them to struggle with a severe porpoising problem, which team principal Toto Wolff claimed cost the team half a seasons’ worth of development on the W13.

Article continues below

READ: Nico Rosberg sends social media demand to F1 drivers after Sebastian Vettel retirement 

After overcoming this issue, Mercedes brought upgrades to the US Grand Prix in Austin which made the W13 capable of winning races, which the eventually did so in Brazil with George Russell.

The Silver Arrows’ late upturn in form comes as a massive indicator that the team have identified the best way to tackle the new regulations after a slow start, leading to fans anticipating the return of Mercedes to the top in 2023.

With Red Bull seeing their wind tunnel testing time cut by ten percent next year as punishment for the breach of the 2021 cost cap, Monaghan and his team will have to be more selective when choosing which car parts to test ahead of the new season as teams try to tackle the minor rule changes that come with the turn of the year.