Why RB’s VCARB 01 is not a straight Red Bull copy

As well as RB moving away from being just a training ground for junior drivers, the squad has been open about forging closer ties with sister squad Red Bull that extends to a technical alliance.

It was never likely that this relationship would result in RB producing a straight Red Bull clone, and its new VCARB 01 challenger duly shows a mixture of the squad’s own DNA with a spatter of ideas we have seen from the RB18 and RB19.

These include but are not limited to, mechanical components, of which we have the first major talking point when it comes to the new car.

VCARB 01

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

RB has made the switch to pull-rod front suspension, something that Red Bull opted for when the new regulations arrived in 2022. McLaren has used that configuration since then too, with Sauber joining the gang with its new C44.

The big talking point of this generation of ground effect cars always comes down to the sidepods, and in RB’s case there is one prominent change in this area.

The team has switched to a similar inlet configuration to Red Bull, as will seemingly be the case for everyone this year.