Red Bull’s new RB15 chassis for the 2019 F1 season has been shown for the first time in its definitive livery, having previously been revealed in a special launch color scheme.
The new car, which Max Verstappen is driving in today’s test, is Red Bull’s first car to be powered by a Honda engine.Speaking ahead of the new car’s first run, team principal Christian Horner said the development of the new chassis and its Honda power unit had been “truly integrated”, but its potential is unlikely to be realised from the first race.
“There has been a colossal effort from both sides over the winter and progress has been made on all fronts,” said Horner. “We also have the benefit of Red Bull Technology working with Honda and Toro Rosso on the drivetrain over the last 12 months, which has significantly aided the integration process.
“However, nobody stands still in Formula 1 and despite progress being made the real test comes when we measure ourselves against our opponents. We will get snapshots of performance during testing but we won’t really see how much progress has been made until two or three races into the season.”
F1 teams are limited to three power units per driver across the 21 races. Horner indicated he expects these restrictions will slow the team’s development rate.
“There will be weekends of good progress but also, given the parameters of the engine rules, there will be times when we will encounter difficulties too. Nevertheless, we are confident that the enormous potential we see in this partnership will deliver consistent progress.”
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Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
18th February 2019, 7:11
Expectedly Anticlimactic.
faulty (@faulty)
18th February 2019, 14:16
True dat.
Why didn’t they just swap out the base color in for a matte white and have an austrojapane… ah, got it!
Montréalais (@)
18th February 2019, 7:18
Is it just me, or is the new front wing massive and ungainly? Just the photo angle?
Paul Duggan
18th February 2019, 7:30
Angle/perspective/lens. There is a lot more flap on this wing than some of the others though. I wonder if it’s really what they’re going to race.
Mark Zastrow (@markzastrow)
18th February 2019, 7:39
It’s such a shame that teams are more or less banned from running multiple liveries during the season. I would have loved to have seen the Red Bull launch livery in a race. If F1 wants to recapture our imaginations, generate buzz, and bring in new sponsors, the flexibility to run striking one-off liveries would seem one of the most cost-effective ways to do so.
SuperSenna
18th February 2019, 16:31
I thinks that’s just marketing. Imagine changing a coca-cola can, for instance, people recognise the brand out of that and if you change a lot, the identity of the brand lacks to become iconic.
Another good example are the Marlboro cars of the 80s-90s, Indy car (Penske) and F1 (Mclaren) had the same livery.
petebaldwin (@)
21st February 2019, 22:03
Coca-cola do change their cans though on special occasions. Here’s what they did for the 2014 World Cup for example – https://gunaxin.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Coke-World-Cup.jpg
As much as keeping the same design works 99% of the time, sometimes a striking, short-term change grabs people’s attention.
petebaldwin (@)
21st February 2019, 22:06
They also did a promotion in the UK (maybe elsewhere as well) where they replaced the word “Coca-Cola” with people’s names. There was a huge buzz as people searched around to find a can with their name on it.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
18th February 2019, 8:06
the one-off livery was so much more interesting, with the meaner, darker look and stylized bull. This is very standard for RB, not exciting at all.
Dani B. Molina (@esmiz)
18th February 2019, 12:34
Don’t get the hype about the “new” liveries. Team have colors. They have a “brand” image to maintain. They simply can’t go with a complete different livery each year. They want the “not hardcore” fan to recognise them at first sight. Given the importance that companies give to corporate colors, I think we can thank that the Toro Rosso livery is not a complete copy of the Red Bull one. I would have liked that teams like Alfa Romeo or Haas that are quite “new” teams (notice the quotes) would have chosen other colors, but having chosen these, there is no other option but to accept that the Alfa will be red and white and the Haas black and gold for at least a few years. There will always be teams like Force India or Haas itself with more chances of changing color due to the sponsors, but the factory teams or those who maintain their sponsors, it is difficult to change their image a lot from one year to the next.
faulty (@faulty)
18th February 2019, 14:20
Mr. Frank Williams would like to have a chat with you about “team colors” and “sponsorship”.
rpiian (@rpiian)
18th February 2019, 12:36
That’s more like it (love the matte livery). Thanks RB chaps!
AmericanF1
18th February 2019, 17:31
So for a brand that associates itself with “extreme” sports and just about every form of racing imaginable, their liveries are just plain boring. I liked the matte when it came out, but that was years ago. I fail to see the point of enticing with cool new liveries pre-test, then switching back to the tried (tired?) and true for the season. Red Bull now has a wide range of drinks in just about every color under the rainbow…do a purple car or a lime green metallic, something other than the norm!