Red Bull design change leaked? RB20 breaks cover at secret shakedown

Red Bull’s 2024 F1 car has been spotted in public for the first time during a shakedown at Silverstone.

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen completed the first miles in the RB20 on Tuesday morning at a wet Silverstone, with teammate Sergio Perez set to get a run in the afternoon.

Red Bull will become the final team to officially present their 2024 F1 car during a launch event on Thursday at their Milton Keynes headquarters.

The RB20 has already been pictured and filmed by onlookers at Silverstone, despite the public not being welcome to attend. 

Crash.net has had it confirmed that it is the RB20 being run at the British Grand Prix venue. 

Verstappen claimed the new RB20 will “look exactly the same as last year’s Red Bull”, but there was at least one noticeable difference from the footage captured at Silverstone.

Still images from the video footage appears to show the RB20 featuring a new design on the upper bodywork that resembles the bulbous engine cover adopted by Mercedes with last year’s W14.

Unless clearer images emerge, we will likely have to wait until Thursday’s launch to see the finer details of the RB20 design.

Red Bull are using Tuesday’s shakedown as one of their two permitted promotional days in which the RB20 can be driven a maximum of 200 kilometres.

De Telegraaf reports that Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is at Silverstone on Tuesday amid an ongoing investigation into alleged inappropriate behaviour.

According to the Dutch publication, Horner, who was reportedly grilled for up to eight hours on Friday by an independent lawyer, also plans to attend Red Bull’s season launch event on Thursday.

Pre-season testing gets underway in Bahrain next week, before the opening grand prix on March 2.