So sad: Red Bull head coach Christian Horner CBE announced his departure and also….

In fact, some have seen this as the best approach for the company to eliminate its opponent because it demonstrates its belief that it is capable of creating things that its rival is not.

And all the signs point to the world champion squad having already unleashed a ton of performance from the RB20 based on the form it displayed in the test last week in Bahrain.

But in actuality, Red Bull was first reluctant to adopt its rival’s earlier concepts for its engine gulley and sidepod inlets—rather than adopting the Mercedes way to make a statement.

There are emotional factors involved when stealing concepts from other teams rather than creating something original, as its technical director Pierre Wache has clarified.

When asked if he thought Red Bull’s adoption of Mercedes concepts was ironic in any manner, Wache told Motorsport.com, “I don’t see it in this way, I see it more in another way.”

You attempt to remain objective when making design decisions because the initial thought is usually, “Well, it’s better to have your own ideas.”

But eventually, you just have to step back and ask yourself, ‘Is our system saying what’s superior, or the stopwatch?’ Thus, you experiment and use the best solution.

You say, ‘I would prefer to do my own stuff,’ as a human being. However, it is risky since you have to follow your criteria, and if “what is better” is the criteria, we will choose the better option.

To be honest, it’s much better and not precisely the same.

Wache has indicated that it felt its powerful RB19 was starting to reach a performance plateau, which is why it decided to make such a drastic change to the car for this season.

Red Bull believed that doing something completely different was the only way to achieve a significant enough jump, even though they were well aware that competitors were gaining ground on them during the 2023 season.

When questioned about the reasoning for the choice, he stated, “It was based on the simulation and numbers.”

You are aware that your concept is essentially at the limit of what you can do with it and that you need to enhance significantly because the others will return.