Max Verstappen already confirmed two weeks ago after the British Grand Prix that Red Bull Racing would bring updates to Hungary and so this morning there were plenty of journalists in the pit lane looking at the 'new' RB19. What has changed? At first glance, mainly the sidepods have been taken care of, cooling has been improved and something has also been changed to the front wing.
Red Bull has opted for the so-called 'letterbox' sidepod. The first updates to the sidepods were introduced in Azerbaijan. A wider and less high sidepod inlet was already chosen then, but the Austrian formation has gone one step further in further developing this concept with the update in Hungary.
The smaller sidepod intakes make it harder to cool the Honda engine, for example, but Adrian Newey and his crew have thought about that. In fact, improvements have also been made to the cooling system, so temperatures will not skyrocket. Furthermore, on the RB19's front wing, we see that especially the flaps have been modified. This should ensure more efficient airflow.
Germany's Auto Motor und Sport reported earlier this week that the new sidepods should give Verstappen and Perez around two-tenths time gains. This weekend's Hungarian GP will give a good idea of whether Red Bull has indeed gained another few tenths on the competition.