Red Bull could introduce a Mercedes-style ‘zeropod’ design to their F1 car after the opening rac🃏es of the 2024 season, it has been reported.

The reig🧔ning world champions are “pois𒐪ed to further replicate previous Mercedes F1 car designs by moving towards a ‘zeropod’-style concept with its first major upgrade of 2024”, according to .

Autosport report that Red Bull’s current RB20 design will only be used in Bahrain for both pre-season testing and the race, Saudi Arabia and Australia, where co🐲nditions are expected to be hot.

With cooling anticipated to be less marginal at the Japanese Grand Pr♑ix in early April, Red Bull are set to unleash an upgrade that will mimic Mercedes’ controversial ‘zerop🤡od’ concept.

M🦹ercedes fin🐷ally abandoned their ‘zeropod’ design at last year’s Monaco Grand Prix to move to a more conventional sidepod concept after its real-world performance failed to match up to the numbers being produced in the wind tunnel.

With most of the field having now converged to a concept similar 🌟to the one featuring on the last two Red Bu🌜ll cars, Red Bull raised eyebrows at the launch of their RB20 by presenting a design that drew comparisons to Mercedes’ W14.

The areas most ⛎remini🐼scent of last year’s Mercedes include vertical sidepod inlets and a bulge running the length of the engine cover.

Reigning world champion 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen said he wไould “still call it a Red Bull style” design when it was suggested to him that 🦄the RB20 featured some “Mercedes-style” ideas.

"I'm quite happy with the direction that they chose,” the Dutchman added. "I saw the drawings I think in Abu Dhabi, the last race, I was like, 'wow, that's quite different in a way.' And they've ꦺnot been conservative, let's say like that.

"I think what I l😼ike about the team is that we had a great package, but they took the chance to r𓃲eally go all out, I would say and try to make it better. Of course, time will tell if it's really, really good.

ꦇ"But from what I see within the team everyone is just happy with what they have achieved in the winter. But then again, we don't know. We can't control what the other people did."

Asked about RB🍎20’s similarities with recent Mercedes designs, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: "It's not tactical, it's based on performance and what we're seeing through our simulation tools.

"Obviously the car✃ looks quite visibly different in certain areas to last year. Only🅰 the stopwatch will tell but in the virtual world we wouldn't have committed it to design if we didn't feel it was better."