Red Bull Development Driver Jake Dennis has revealed the team anticipated a bigger challenge from Mercedes in the opening stages of the 2024 Formula 1 season.
Red Bull has thrashed the competition since F1 returned to ground effect cars in 2022 and had won all but one race last term en route to retaining both championships.
The Austrian outfit’s dominance has continued into the latest campaign, with Max Verstappen leading successive 1-2 race finishes to sit on nine consecutive victories.
Despite concerns over diminishing returns, Red Bull has adopted an aggressive evolution with the RB20, featuring innovations that have helped to maintain its advantage.
Dennis believes the core secret to Red Bull’s ongoing success is providing Verstappen and team-mate Sergio Perez with a car that produces consistent downforce.
“I think the amount of downforce the car can give and the balance in the RB20 is very good in a natural way,” Dennis told RacingNews365.
“It’s not that the car is very nervous in the high-speed corners or has a lot of understeer in the slow corners, the car is very neutral.
“That gives Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez the chance to go through all the different corners with a lot of confidence.”
Both Ferrari and Mercedes elected to overhaul their respective problematic car concepts from last season for 2024 as part of their pursuit of a more benign platform.
Dennis had warned Red Bull’s rivals over the winter that around one second per lap would need to be unlocked for them to be in a position to battle against the RB20.
But despite that ominous message, the reigning Formula E World Champion has conceded that Red Bull has been surprised Mercedes hasn’t been more competitive.
While Ferrari has emerged as Red Bull’s closest contender, the German marque has professed that it is combating a “fundamental” correlation problem with its W15.
“Of course, there is no denying that Ferrari has closed the gap slightly,” Dennis added.
“We expected a bit more challenge from Mercedes, but it seems the first few races were difficult for them.
“We expected the gap to close and it did, but we probably still expected a bit more challenge in the races.
“We’ll see when we go to slightly more traditional tracks, because we haven’t really been there yet. Bahrain is tough on tyres and Jeddah is a very unique street circuit.
“I am looking forward to going to more normal circuits.”
