F1 News: Mercedes Curious About Red Bull's "Different" Cooling System
Mercedes technical director James Allison is extremely curious about the RB20's cooling system that the team has been unable to figure out. Thus, to satisfy his curiosity, he would “deeply love” to get to the root of the philosophy behind the cooling system.
Key Takeaways:
- Mercedes' James Allison is keen to understand the unique cooling system of Red Bull's RB20, which has proven elusive for the team.
- Red Bull's upgraded RB20, an evolution of the championship-winning RB19, has demonstrated impressive lap times during pre-season tests.
- Despite Red Bull's competitive advantage, Allison remains optimistic about Mercedes' development and competitiveness in the upcoming season.
A few days ago, Red Bull unveiled its upgraded championship contender, an evolution of the previous title-winning RB19. The team made refinements to what can be described as near-perfection, introducing changes to the car evident from its lap times during the pre-season tests.
Red Bull Press Image
While rival teams looked into each other's homework to understand what had been done, Mercedes was extremely curious to peep into the RB20's cooling apparatus underneath the engine cover, after Allison caught a glimpse of what was underneath.
The Brackley outfit found answers to questions that were preventing its outgoing W14 car from becoming less draggy, it now tries to figure the logic out behind Red Bull's machinery.
When asked by Sky Sports F1’s Ted Kravitz if there was anything in the paddock that surprised him during the pre-season test, Allison said:
“Well, I would deeply love to be invited into the Red Bull garage and to take the engine cover off and delve around under those sort of ‘snorkelly’ things.
“There’s definitely a different approach being taken there because what glimpses you see of their cooling system, it’s definitely not light and svelte.
“So they’re doing that for a reason, and I’d love to know what that reason is, but we haven’t figured it out yet.”
Revealing his thoughts about the season ahead concerning Red Bull, he added:
“I don’t think it’s any surprise to anyone that down there [Red Bull] have got their noses and perhaps a bit more of their face in front of those of us that are chasing.
“But I think we’ll make a good fist of the chasing, and hopefully [we’ll] just develop strongly through the year.”
Mercedes Press Image