The evolutionary steps that underline Red Bull's intent

In stark contrast to Tuesday's Ferrari launch, which was a particularly lively and bombastic affair, Red Bull unceremoniously dropped its 2020 Formula 1 car, the RB16, with no real fanfare at all.

The no-fuss nature of an online launch with a shakedown later in the day has become de rigueur in modern F1, and perhaps underlines Red Bull's willingness to partake in the formalities before getting on with the serious work at hand. Having turned around its form in 2019 after starting the season with a somewhat tricky car to manage, Red Bull has the platform to make a more concerted push for silverware this year.

Having used the tail end of 2019 to put some developments on the road, the Red Bull package seems to have responded well to the inclusion of a Ferrari-inspired front wing. The tiny split in the middle wing element has been removed from last year's design to let the top element extend all the way down, creating a slight change in how the tip vortices are formed.

Those are offered a bit more in the way of guidance with a cape section, which Red Bull has included at the front end to replace the keels it used last year.

Although it's hard to determine the exact nature of the nose from the sole angle that Red Bull provided on the RB16's public release, there are a few notable changes to the formula. Either side of the main snorkel, there are additional nostrils that appear to guide airflow towards the rear section of the cape. Speculating on their purpose, having not been blessed with windtunnel vision, this could be to trim off areas of stagnant flow, or simply just to bolt on a bit more front-end downforce.

The sidepods look even tighter than in 2019, and Red Bull and Honda appear to have condensed the packaging demands of their internal components to an even more extreme level

There also seems to be an additional duct on top of the snorkel, as the area around the crash structure has increased in complexity.

Further up, the ear-like deflectors remain on top of the chassis bulkhead, sandwiching a slightly redesigned S-duct outlet. The thinner outlet was first brought to the car in Japan last year, but the transition over the top seems to have been smoothed out to limit any separation anxieties faced by the aerodynamicists.

Red Bull also appears to have eliminated the multilink-wishbone front suspension design, opting for a conventional wishbone instead. The multilink gave the team more options when playing with ride heights under steering lock, but it appears that the design team didn't fancy the complications that it brought to the package.

Meanwhile, the bargeboard package looks distinctly similar to last year's design, suggesting that some of the complexities have been held back for the launch images. The twin-boomerang design remains, and the turning vanes around the sidepod inlet seem in the same arrangement as on the RB15, save for the front-most vertical piece, which has extended in height.

Those sidepods look even tighter than last year, and Red Bull and Honda appear to have condensed the packaging demands of their internal components to an even more extreme level. Judging by the way the light pools on the sidepod in the launch images, they've been rounded off even more to improve the way airflow passes over the top and onto the floor.

To assist that effect even further, there are two tiny fins nestled between the halo attachment points and the headrest, which appear to be pointing and firing air down to the floor. Over the years, Adrian Newey has employed small fins in this area for myriad reasons - be it to fulfil a height requirement or for aerodynamic purposes - and these small fins appear to be no different. A tiny detail, yes, but an important one.

It appears as though the overall engine cover is largely in the same arrangement as last year, and this is largely down to the restrictions of placing cooling components above the intake. Honda's powertrain seems to allow the sidepods to be packaged much more tightly, and some of the radiator and intercooler elements are instead stowed above the engine. That way, the lower half of the intake can be used to drive the compressor and the upper half can be used to cool those components.

The rear wing is not dissimilar to one of the specifications used last season, although Red Bull frequently liked to experiment with different chord lengths and positions on the DRS-activated flap.

Although Red Bull has resisted the urge to break up its endplate into multiple slots and strakes, it does now feature a cut in the leading edge to inhibit any early separation and allows the team to use more extreme levels of curvature.

The leading edge of the mainplane is also raised, suggesting that the team has been able to keep the airflow attached over a greater camber - boosting the overall downforce output.

One of the key attributes of last year's Red Bull package was its development potential, which meant that the team could keep trialling new parts and pushing the performance window closer to Mercedes.

With a year's experience of these regulations, a functioning relationship with Honda and an evolutionary RB16 to kick things off, there's no reason for Red Bull to be caught napping

A vital front wing change, among other parts, ahead of last year's Austrian Grand Prix gave the team a much higher performance ceiling, and both Max Verstappen and Alex Albon enjoyed strong form at the end of the season.

Red Bull has, over the past couple of seasons, endured a slightly slow start to each campaign. With a year's experience of these regulations, a functioning relationship with Honda and an evolutionary RB16 to kick things off, there's no reason for Red Bull to be caught napping - unless, of course, it has failed to make the right step over the off-season with its development, or its rivals make - allbeit unlikely - massive gains.

In Verstappen, Red Bull has a driver who can turn the tide of a race, and with the right package he has the potential to be winning races week-in, week-out. Meanwhile, Albon has proven to be a dependable driver, and if he's got his crashes out of his system, can be an excellent tail-gunner to Verstappen as he continues his learning curve during the second season of his F1 career.

All of the ingredients are in place at Red Bull, it just needs to put them together in the right order if the team is to rise to the top.

The expert view

By Tim Wright, Autosport technical contributor

The front wing concept has been retained from 2019, differing slightly from Ferrari as Red Bull keeps the loaded outboard flaps at a higher level.

The nose detail is quite different as Red Bull is obviously trying to channel air onto the side vanes, which extend further forward than 2019. To achieve this, and stay within the regulations, the nose itself is a little slimmer as a result.

Again, like Ferrari, more attention has been paid to the area behind the front wheels in an attempt to keep the airflow attached to the sidepods and the diffuser, as they rely heavily on the high rear ride height philosophy.

This is more important in slow-speed corners, especially as they have such a heavily loaded front wing. Out on track, the car seems to be operating at a particularly high rake.

The engine air inlet looks slightly larger than 2019, but otherwise the rear of the car looks distinctly similar to last year.

The top wishbone is definitely different to last year and the pushrod looks to be at a steeper angle. It appears that the RB16 has the same articulated pushrod that Ferrari and Mercedes used to lower the front of the car on extreme lock, so performance in low-speed corners is what the team appears to be targeting.