Red Bull F1 stalwart admits to COPYING rivals

Red Bull Racing celebrating the teams' championship title in Japan — Photo: © LAT Images

Latest F1 News

Red Bull stalwart admits to COPYING F1 rivals

The team have been constructors' world champions in the last two seasons

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 29 January 2024 17:59 Updated: 20:32

Red Bull's technical director Pierre Wache has said that 'it's possible to copy' in Formula 1, suggesting that his world championship-winning team have 'inspired' themselves based on their rivals' performances.

The Milton Keynes-based outfit have dominated the last two seasons in F1, with their 2023 car being described by team principal Christian Horner as the "most successful car in F1 history".

Star man Max Verstappen has managed to claim three consecutive drivers' world championships, and heads in to the upcoming 2024 season attempting to add to his impressive career haul of 54 race victories.

Article continues under video

Red Bull's RB19 claimed 21 of the 22 race wins throughout the 2023 season, the most amount of wins claimed by a single team in any F1 season.

Pierre Wache has been with the Red Bull team since 2013

Max Verstappen claimed 19 race victories for Red Bull in 2023, including 10 in a row, an F1 record

Red Bull are to unveil their new car on February 15, just a week before testing

Red Bull's car design tips

Now, Wache has described the ways in which F1 teams attempt to gain an advantage on their competition, outlining what it takes to build such a fantastic race car.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has recently been concerned about Red Bull's connections with sister team VisaCashApp RB, but Wache believes there are more similarities between rival teams than may be first thought.

“I think it’s possible to copy, but in every business in the world, when it’s technical, the ‘how’ is one aspect,” he told Motorsport.com.

“The most important aspect is ‘why’.

“If you don’t know ‘why’, you can copy whatever you want, but it’s better to stay with what you understand.

“We also copy some stuff,” he added. “We [might] copy the wrong thing, but you inspire yourself based on what you see from others.

“It’s like a Darwin effect, this business. You see something from others, you add another idea to it and you develop and you grow your concept, your strengths and your capacity.

“But, every time, it has to be on the understanding aspect. If you just copy for copying’s sake, it doesn’t work.

“You [need to] have the knowledge and also what you want to achieve. If you don’t have the same golden aim of characteristics, it doesn’t bring anything."

Red Bull Max Verstappen Formula 1 Christian Horner Pierre Wache