RedBull RB3

[Ranger]

The Renault-engined Newey machine will be launched in Barcelona today. (Spain seems to be popular for such launches, doesn't it?)

I'm not going to predict any livery change, but its decent so I don't mind about that.

I'm sure it'll go like schtick compared to last years car, but in terms of how fast that is in comparison to the 2007 grid, I'm not sure of how fast it will be.

It is a widely anticipated design so I'm sure it will impress, so on that basis I will predict top 5.

But everyone knows about these pre-season predictions, they're all just crap until you get to Round One of the season.

Predictions/Pictures here please! (Man I'm getting deja vu)

[millencolin]

praying its a top level car for Mr webber...

[Scuderia ferrari]

I doubt the livary will be any diffrent from last year or the year before that, but hopefully it will be a good car.

[Giuseppe F1]

FIRST PICTURES!

Go to:

http://www.sutton-images.com




- Car looks 'weird' if you ask me

- Ferrari style mirrors

- Doornbos shown as reserve driver so hopefully means Scotts Toro Rosso seat is safe

- Renaults Rob White at the launch

- Strange lack of 'Red Bull' branding on drivers overalls

[AJP]

Lets hope they do something different from what they usually do with the livery...it's a bland and boring car...and they have such a good base to work with...even the Toro Rosso cars look better...

[ArrowsFA1]

The sidepod design (like on other cars) makes a right old mess of the sponsors logo.

The car looks ok though. Newey rarely gets it wrong, and with Renault power it should be a good year for the team.


- Strange lack of 'Red Bull' branding on drivers overalls
You're right about that. With Toro Rosso apparently looking for more sponsorship as well, perhaps it's a sign that Red Bull are finding F1 a little expensive!

[AJP]

typed my post at the same time as Giuseppe...

Again a very bland livery for the Red Bull guys...

oh well...at least the car looks good...not sure about those mirrors though...or the exhaust chimneys...It doesnt look as sculptured around that area like the others that have been released..

[Ranger]

I like the Livery, even if it is only marginally better than last year's! :up:

I particularly like the increased prescence of those stripes down the side of the car.

The car looks very sleek compared to the other cars released thus far. Looking at the nose it looks to me like they've gone skinny-nosed as well, a la McLaren and Honda. We'll see whether this is a good or bad thing as the year progresses.

Overalls are rather unspectacular, I do say! I much prefered last year's overalls which were very nice.

I was expecting a more "Red Bull"-esque launch but it doesn't really matter in the grand scale of things.

On a side note, Coulthard looks pretty old in those photos!

Hope for a good year for the RBR team!

[RJL25]

race overalls are indeed quite dissapointing.. last years looked so slick!

as for the car, i think it looks to be the most derivitive design released so far. All the other cars have thousands of winglets and air directors all over the side pods on the cars and additional elements on the front wings whereas the RB3 has none of this.... good for straight line speed no doubt about that! But you wonder if they will be generating as much downforce as the other cars...

the front suspension tho looks a little bit more innovative, particularly in the way the lower suspension arms attach to the front structure

[ASCAR24/7/365.5]

am i the only one that likes it...personally i think its the best looking car this year by far, along with the honda...mclaren 3rd, bmw 4th and the ferrari/renault look poo

[Sleeper]

It looks rather like a McLaren, not that thats a surprise. I still love the RBR colour scheme and reckon they'll have a good season, certainly better than last years.

[Donney]

I find it boring, I thought it would a fresher design, more orientated to young people.

[Ed]

it makes a nice chnge from the previuos jaguar stly box cars that we saw inthe RBR1 and RBR2!! muck sleeker looking car if you ask me

[luvracin]

am i the only one that likes it...personally i think its the best looking car this year by far, along with the honda...mclaren 3rd, bmw 4th and the ferrari/renault look poo


No you're not. I think it looks good too.

I also think it's good for them to have other sponsors coming on the car. Doesn't necessarily mean Red Bull is having trouble financing two teams, why shouldn't they accept money from outside sources??

Red Bull's and other teams imitation of the "Ferrari mirrors" just seems to validate the design - I don't see an issue of it.

[ClarkFan]

You're right about that. With Toro Rosso apparently looking for more sponsorship as well, perhaps it's a sign that Red Bull are finding F1 a little expensive!

Well, there is the old saw that the best way to make a small fortune in racing is to start with a large fortune. :s

Seriously, whatever Red Bull's annual turnover may be, a company built on a fad product (energy drinks) is a pretty slender support for a > 200 million euro per year expediture to underwrite 2 Formula 1 teams. I know that in the US, Red Bull is facing serious market competition from much larger drink players, including Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

I hope they succeed in finding sponsors, as Red Bull may prove a transitory player in the racing world.

ClarkFan

[SuperAguri]

What a butt ugly livery

In my opinion the 2005 car had the best yet

[DanielB]

Red Bull are involved in all sorts of ventures - they sponsor air races, aerobatic display teams and historic aircraft, plus their US based sports teams etc, so they can't be that short of cash.

Car looks great - sleek design, nice livery and classy overalls.

[POS_Maggott]

I like it, but I cant help but be confused.

Does the nose taper up just a little right at the tip? In some shots it looks like it obviously does, in some shots it doesnt.

Can anyone else see this?

[Scuderia ferrari]

Well, nice new design, i was wrong, it is slightly diffrent, but the car itself looks good, hopefully it will please mr. Webber this year.

[jens]

Everything seems to be OK, except the stripes remind too much Russia. :D

http://images.f1racing.net/large/67568.jpg

Aerodynamically the car looks innovative, although similar to McLaren to some extent. It seems quite evident that they'll have a better season than in 2006, but the main question remains that how much better and whether it is enough to rise in the WCC.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I like the shape of the nose on this car (new RB3 that is ) :up: reminds of the 'ant-eater' nose from the 2004 Mclaren ;)

http://assets.in.gr/dgenesis/assets/content6/photo/middle/McLaren_7123_ape.jpg

[jens]

I like the shape of the nose on this car (new RB3 that is ) :up: reminds of the 'ant-eater' nose from the 2004 Mclaren ;)


That 2004 McLaren nose wasn't very successful, so that comparison shows in no way that it should be a success. :p :

[Brown, Jon Brow]

That 2004 McLaren nose wasn't very successful, so that comparison shows in no way that it should be a success. :p :

Maybe your right, but maybe it takes more than a well designed nose to make an F1 car successful ;)

[Amadeus]

There's a lot of McLaren in that car...especially the nose and side pods...

[RJL25]

whoops whats going on with those winglets on the sidepods! they are bent right over on themselfs!!! Surely they wouldnt be trying such an obviously moveable aerodynamic device so clearly those bad boys are creating more downforce then what they're supports can handle... someone made a boo boo!

[W8&C]

..so we´re going to witness a McLaren-Renault experiment. What will Mercedes think about that? Especially if its successful?... :)

[ginsu]

whoops whats going on with those winglets on the sidepods! they are bent right over on themselfs!!! Surely they wouldnt be trying such an obviously moveable aerodynamic device so clearly those bad boys are creating more downforce then what they're supports can handle... someone made a boo boo!

What makes you so sure it's an accident? How could an engineer not know what kind of loads are going through that winglet? Personally, I think it's completely intentional, but maybe they didn't think it would happen to such a large amount as it did on the track. Newey's a brilliant designer give him some credit, I'm sure it's on purpose, but we'll see.

[venturi]

The car looks great , lets hope that it goes as quick as it looks for Mark ;-)

[Ian McC]

Hey, maybe this could be DC's year! :uhoh: :D

[savage86]

Newey knows what he's doing, that 2005 Mclaren still holds a lot of the lap records.
I guess if all these ideas he had with the Mclarens worked then why change them?

[harsha]

looks quite similar to Newey's last car,the 05 Mclaren.....hopefully if RedBull get the good engine support they are looking for,they could challenge

[J.Lindstroem]

Just curiois: Where does that "metro" sticker on the Red Bull car come from?

[52Paddy]

The car itself is actually quite good looking. The livery is ok too because it's not overdone although I don't like the stripes on it.

[Ari]

Driver Webber:
Engine: Renault
Designed: McLaren (ex)

Hmmm, something tells me that 2007 could be a good year for Red Bull IF they can bring it all together and keep the car on the track.

Im pumped!!!! :D

[Gannex]

It's a twin-keel! Heavy at the front, wishbones nicely horizontal. This means that only Red Bull and Renault have their front suspension geometry right for the 2007 tyres. Makes the season even more exciting. Trust Newey!

[jens]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/56506

Some more reading.

[jens]

RBR seems to be struggling again as they did last year. Maybe someone thinks I'm going to criticize them too early and well, if you are right, then beat me. :)

Anyway, like the Japanese teams, I have to admit that RBR has done several mistakes after they have joined F1 as an independent team. It's so usual for a new team - getting too excited at the start and then mess eveything up. They had a wonderful start into 2005 after having bought Jaguar. It was said that the results at the start of the season were Jaguar's favour as RB used their experience gained from previous years and they were continuing well with Cosworths.

After some taste of success Mateschitz & Co hired Newey, which was probably right, but then also made several wrong decisions. They switched to Ferrari, which they seemed to insist not being the best choice for whatever reason. And that maybe was the main problem, why 2006 was weaker although with Cosworth they couldn't have done better. Also in 2005 they were having a dilemma for some time whether to switch to B-stones or not. Maybe they should have switched earlier to avoid late problems?

And for this season they have changed the engine again. McLaren in the 90s is a fine example that changing engine every year does not make any good at all. And I think I already mentioned it at the end of last year, but then it didn't get much notice, that IMO their biggest mistake was debating too long whether to switch for Renault or not. They announced their engine deal with Renault in November, which is way-way too late. Usually when a team is trying to find a new engine supplier, then they are trying to announce the deal not later than in August. Therefore I'd say Williams's decisions have been better by not hurrying at the end of 2005 to switch for Toyota and they gradually generated their relationship with Toyota during 2006.

Hopefully RB won't continue twitching around and tries to find some continuity. But I think they may achieve some good results this year as well, but they probably won't be consistently good. Although they should find better form for the second half of the season, they may shine even in the first half of the season on a couple of occasions as Webber has always been quick at Melbourne however mediocre cars he has driven.

[Ranger]

Yep, the year doesn't look too good at all for RBR. Hopefully its reliable enough to go race distances however - The last year's Williams was slow but missed out on armfuls of points just because it blew up. Hopefully that RB3 becomes at least slightly more reliable.

[jens]

http://www.planet-f1.com/News/Story_Page/0,15909,3210_3213_1940247,00.html

Oh, these guys are really starting to hurry...