Early-season rounds saw dominant pace, which was confirmed when Red Bull repeated their dominant performances shown throughout the previous year, but as the season progressed, Red Bull and its RB20 found itself pressured and outpaced by rival teams, particularly by McLaren and their MCL38; while the team has since attempted to introduce upgrades and changes to their car to return to their season-opening dominance, the poor performance of Pérez in particular and an uptick of performance from McLaren and Ferrari saw them drop to a lowly third in the Constructors' Championship as of the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix. As of the 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix, the RB20 has achieved 8 wins (plus 4 sprint wins, the latest being at the United States Grand Prix), 17 podiums, and 8 pole positions – plus 4 sprint pole positions – and it holds 4 fastest laps.
Competitive history
Pre-season
After the pre-season test in Sakhir at the Bahrain International Circuit, reigning champion Max Verstappen was reported to be 'pleased' with the car's characteristics; Red Bull, who only topped the first day of testing, opted not to focus on lap times.[5]
The RB20's pace was confirmed in the subsequent Bahrain Grand Prix, where Verstappen took pole position; he then proceeded to score his fifth career grand chelem during the race itself. His teammate Pérez finished in second, 22 seconds behind him.[6] Verstappen took another dominant victory at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Meanwhile, teammate Pérez finished in second place once more, this time 13 seconds behind him. This marked Verstappen's 100th career podium.[7]
The Australian Grand Prix saw polesitter Verstappen run into early trouble after suffering a brake failure, marking his first retirement in over two years (having retired at the same event in 2022), which allowed Scuderia Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr. to score a victory.[8] Further wins and double podium finishes in the Japanese Grand Prix[9] and Chinese Grand Prix[10] followed. At the Miami Grand Prix, Verstappen was set to win the race, having won the sprint, but hit a bollard and damaged his floor. A safety car period then allowed Lando Norris to overtake Verstappen and take his maiden Grand Prix victory. Meanwhile, Pérez finished in fourth.[11]
Mid-season rounds: Second-fastest car
At the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Verstappen led a majority of the race from pole position and would go on to win, despite Norris closing in by the closing stages, while Pérez finished in eighth, his first finish outside of the top five this season.[12] At the Monaco Grand Prix, Verstappen qualified and finished sixth while Pérez had a heavy tangle with the Haas cars, sending all three drivers into retirement.[13] Verstappen won the Canadian Grand Prix after a close qualifying session with George Russell, with the race being held under intermediate conditions that facilitated changes to the wet compounds.[14] He also won the Spanish Grand Prix.[15] Verstappen finished ahead of Norris in both races. Meanwhile however, Pérez failed to finish within the top five in both races; retiring in Canada after he spun the car and broke his rear wing, and finishing in eighth in Spain.
Verstappen took pole position and won the Austrian Grand Prix sprint event. He was on course to win the main race, also from pole position, before a slow stop brought Norris into contention. The two fought for the lead before colliding on lap 64, giving both cars punctures with Norris in particular being handed race-ending damage. Verstappen also received a time penalty for causing the incident, which did not affect his final finishing position of fifth. Meanwhile, Pérez finished in seventh behind Nico Hülkenberg after Hülkenberg passed him in the closing stages of the race.[16] The British Grand Prix was particularly tricky for both Red Bull drivers, with Verstappen and Pérez making errors during qualifying that sent the latter out of Q1 and the former gaining floor damage. Verstappen, whose floor was replaced following qualifying, finished in second after making his way up the field while Pérez finished in seventeenth.[17] The Hungarian Grand Prix was not any better, with Verstappen struggling with the car's handling and pace while Pérez crashed out of Q1 for the second consecutive race in a row. While Pérez recovered to seventh, Verstappen finished in fifth after colliding with Lewis Hamilton, dropping him behind Charles Leclerc.[18] The Belgian Grand Prix saw Verstappen, who set the fastest time in qualifying, take a grid penalty. Teammate Pérez, who set the second-fastest time in qualifying, started on the front row for the first time since the Chinese Grand Prix. However, during the race, Pérez dropped down from second to finish in seventh, while Verstappen, who started eleventh, finished in fourth (following the disqualification of another driver).[19]
Verstappen during the Dutch Grand Prix
The Dutch Grand Prix saw Verstappen take the second-fastest time in qualifying. He briefly took the lead after Norris had a poor start, but the McLaren driver showed consistent pace behind his rival. On lap 18, Norris took the lead and extended the gap to Verstappen by over 22 seconds as he took the win; for comparison, Verstappen, while in the lead, could only muster a gap that was under 1.5 seconds to Norris, and he suffered issues with turning the car.[20]
The Italian Grand Prix saw both Red Bulls qualify seventh and eighth for Verstappen and Pérez respectively. Pérez finished where he started in eighth while Verstappen made up one place to finish sixth, but ended up 37 seconds behind race winner Charles Leclerc.[21]
Closing rounds: Fending off rivals
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix saw Pérez, who qualified fourth, outqualify Verstappen for the first time this season; Verstappen started sixth. Pérez was in the fight for a podium the whole race until he collided with Sainz, taking both out of the race at the very end. Verstappen's title rival Norris worked his way up from a lowly sixteenth on the grid to overtake him for fourth also during the closing stages of the race.[22]
Characteristics
The RB20 struggled with kerb-riding, which was particularly apparent at the Monaco Grand Prix.[23] During the Hungarian Grand Prix, Verstappen experienced understeer, complaining to team radio that despite having a -5 setting on his brake bias, the car continued to exhibit understeer.[24] After the race, Verstappen suggested that the car's pace had now fallen behind McLaren's MCL38.[25] Team principal Horner acknowledged after the Italian Grand Prix that Red Bull had a balance issue that caused a downwards trend in performance the team has since then attempted to fix.[26]
Liveries
In March 2024, Red Bull announced REBL CUSTMS, a fan design livery competition for the RB20. The winning designs would be used on the car at three races: the British, Singapore, and United States Grands Prix.[27]
During the British Grand Prix, the team ran the first of the special liveries. The design was described as “Stallion Red” and was designed by Chalaj Suvanish from Thailand.[28]
Before the Singapore Grand Prix, Red Bull announced that they would no longer be using the fan-designed livery for the Singapore and United States Grands Prix, citing weight issues as the reason.
[29]
^Noble, Jonathan (2 September 2024). "Red Bull trapped in "vicious circle" with RB20 problems". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 31 October 2024. "We've got a disconnection in balance that just isn't working," [Horner] revealed. [...] "I think Max can't lean on the rear on the way into the corner, or Checo. And you then end up compensating for that. Then you create understeer. And it's on such a fine line."
