While its rivals search for ways to close the yawning performance gap, Red Bull is not sitting still as work continues on the car that evolved from last year's dominant RB18.
Building on those strong foundations and dealing with fresh complexities thrown up by new floor regulations, Red Bull has focused on some key areas to uncover performance gains.
One of the major differences between last year's challenger and the RB19 is the position of the front suspension, with the assembly subtly modified to improve various facets.
Contrary to a large proportion of the field, Red Bull opted for a pull-rod front suspension layout for the new generation of cars, while at the rear it returned to a push-rod layout for the first time since 2008. Red Bull was pivotal in a wholesale shift by the grid to pull-rod from 2009 until the end of the previous era of regulations.
While the mechanical performance of the suspension is clearly still a dominant factor in decision-making, there will always be a trade-off on a car's aerodynamic performance. Most of the field has opted for a similar upper wishbone layout to Red Bull with these new regulations, with the lead arm mounted high on the chassis, while the trailing arm is slung lower.
However, Red Bull does have one of the more extreme examples. This not only helps from a mechanical point of view, to reduce dive under braking, but also has aerodynamic benefits given the airflow is redirected to a more desirable location under and around the sidepods.
Source: Autosport