Red Bull RB20 Echoes Mercedes’ Blunder That Ruined Lewis Hamilton’s Career, Fans Sent Into Frenzy

Remember the Launch of the W13? The Mercedes seemed totally normal until they arrived at the testing. Mercedes came with the never imagined Zeropods and everyone was taken aback. Many presumed another era of Silver Arrow dominance with such a radical design. That wasn’t the case, however. And now Red Bull’s newly revealed RB20 has a surprising resemblance to parts of its fierce Formula 1 rival Mercedes, whose W13 once almost ruined Lewis Hamilton’s championship hopes. But what did Red Bull do? 

Red Bull launched their 2024 competitor, the RB20. While the leaks came out yesterday during a run, the pictures weren’t that clear. The car launch gave us access to HD photos of the RB20 and the rumors came out to be true. The RB20 has adopted the Zeropods. Well, not the Zeropods that Mercedes had, but Zeropods in the sense that there are no inlets. Just side-pods with very aggressive undercuts that seem to be purely for aerodynamics.

Also, the RB20 seems to have copied some other things from the B spec W14 as well. The most noticeable are the shoulders from the Mercedes. After Ferrari and Aston Martin, Red Bull also seems to be going in the Mercedes direction when it comes to shoulders on the engine cover. Red Bull’s take on the Zeropod is interesting. However, given the history that Red Bull has had with their car launches, it’ll be naive to assume that it’s the real car.

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Many components might still be hidden. Who knows if the side pods might just be a distraction for the competition? Just like Mercedes did back in 2022 by turning up with completely new side pods. Fans, on the other hand were sent into a frenzy. 

“W15 in a Red Bull Livery”: RB20 Sidepod Inlets and Design makes fans reminiscent of the Mercedes blunders

Recall when Lewis Hamilton suggested that his team didn’t listen to him regarding the feedback on the W14 when he told them about the problems with the car. Both the 2022 and 2023 seasons were ruined by Mercedes as they pursued the Zeropod concept. However, Adrian Newey might finally have found a way to make it work or maybe caused a huge blunder by going the Zeropod way. Nonetheless, fans came up with their own theories as the RB20 sidepods shocked them. Let’s see what they have to say.

Drawing parallels between Mercedes W14 and Red Bull’s RB20, one fan stated…

Expressing his intrigue for the RB20’s design, another one asked…

Taking a quip at the sidepod design, one fan stated…

Most of the fans were surprised by the direction that Adrian Newey took with the RB20 while others suggested that this is Adrian Newey’s way of showing Mercedes that a car with Zeropods can be done in a way that it’s fast.

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What do you think about the RB20 and the side pods design?