Christian Horner has detailed how Red Bull managed to make the RB19 so formidable in a sweeping season for the Austrian outfit.
Red Bull took all but one of the 22 race wins on offer in 2023 without having to upgrade their car much – such was their advantage over their rivals.
Many of the parts of the successful RB18 were carried over to this year’s challenger, but the team did make a number of changes in order to help the car progress in a positive direction.
Christian Horner has revealed that the car went under a substantial weight shedding in order to become quicker this season.
“What you have to remember is that with the RB19, there were a large number of components that came from the RB18: gearbox, a large percentage of the suspension, and half of the chassis. It was effectively a cut-and-shut for this year,” he told Motorsport.com.
"The most significant thing that we were able to address was the weight. We were so late going on to the new regs in 2021, because of that championship battle [the previous year] that the car in 2022 was a bit on the chunky side.
"So, we managed to get 20 kilos out of the car coming into this year, and tidy up some of the imperfections.
"But there were a great many carryover parts and some of the components have actually won, in Max's case, 19 races this year and 15 last year, so the combination of the two: 34 races."
Due to restrictions, they will have to find time in other areas with the car effectively at the weight limit, but with Adrian Newey at the helm, anything is possible.