"Probably 60% of the car actually raced last year" - Red Bull boss' shocking revelation about the RB19 that dominated the grid in 2023

F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi
Max Verstappen (1) performs donuts on track after the 2023 F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has stated that 60 percent of RB19 parts were from the last RB18 from 2022. The RB19 obliterated every team by winning 21 out of 22 races in 2023.

While every team tries something new every season and brings only a handful of parts from cars they made previously, the RB18 was so promising that the team decided to continue most of its parts.

Horner initially praised the RB19 and what it was able to achieve in 2023. Furthermore, he quickly revealed that the suspension, chassis, and even the gearbox were completely unchanged from RB18 to RB19.

“What it has achieved is quite outstanding. So much of it was carry-over from the RB18. Part of the chassis was carried over, a lot of the suspension was carried over, the gearbox was exactly the same. So probably 60% of the car actually raced last year [2022] as well,” he told Sky Sports.

This was quite shocking to hear, as all other teams on the grid were bringing in major upgrades and completely changing their cars mid-season to get an advantage. Whereas the Austrian-British team was still racing with RB19, on which 60 percent of the parts were from last year.

Red Bull completed the season by scoring 860 points and clinching the constructors' championship way before the 2023 F1 season ended.


Mercedes' technical director is determined to beat Red Bull in 2024

Mercedes technical director James Allison recently spoke about the reigning world champions and how his team is planning to beat the top dogs in the 2024 F1 season.

"I see the grid as Max particularly but Red bull more generally did standout the best job. The rest of us have really underperformed. The gap in race pace between Red Bull and everyone else was bigger in 2023 than it was in 2022 despite the grid as a whole has been compressing up. That's just us (Mercedes) dropping the ball, Ferrari dropping the ball. McLaren's recovery was still distant to Red Bull as we were," he told Sky Sports.
"Our challenge, specifically, over winter and the last many months in making our 2024 car is to ensure that we don't let them off the hook like that for next year. I'm hopeful that we've learnt what we need to in order to give them more of a fight," Allison added.

Mercedes ended the season securing second place in the constructors' championship, scoring 409 points, while Red Bull scored 860 points and easily won the title.

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