Formula 1. Red Bull unveils its new single-seater
While waiting for its great rival Mercedes on February 18 or even Ferrari on February 17, Red Bull presented the car that the now N.1 Verstappen and his teammate, the Mexican Sergio Pérez, will drive.
Red Bull was expected, like the other nine teams, to fit into the mold of new regulations from the International Automobile Federation for 2022. F1 is introducing new regulations that are supposed to allow cars to follow and overtake each other more easily, thus promising more show.
“It’s a new philosophy, each team starts from scratch,” said Christian Horner, team manager of the team, adding that “each of the components is new” on this “prototype which is constantly evolving”.
While waiting to find out if Red Bull has found, in this new framework, the idea to play with the competition, the version unveiled on Wednesday strongly resembles the demonstration model presented by the FIA in 2021.
« There are a lot of unknowns on the car, I’m curious to see how it behaves on the track, » explained Verstappen, who will discover his car during pre-season testing in Barcelona from February 23 to 25, the opportunity to detect the first clues about the forces involved.
Verstappen, without additional pressure
Three more days of testing will follow (March 10-12) in Bahrain, before the first Grand Prix on March 20 also in Bahrain.
Now world champion, Verstappen assured not to have additional pressure: “No, I continue to do what I do all the time, there is no reason to change. With the new regulations, you have to get used to the car and that is going to be the biggest adaptation, but the rest is quite simple”.
The team took the opportunity to unveil its new title sponsor, Oracle, an IT group specializing in software and the cloud, which replaces Honda.
Honda has officially left F1, but Red Bull, like its sister team AlphaTauri, will continue to use Japanese engine technology in 2022.
The American Haas team, last in the 2021 ranking, was the first to unveil its 2022 livery last Friday. This week, Aston Martin on Thursday and McLaren on Friday will follow Red Bull.
