Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Bahrain International Circuit, 2023 pre-season test

First pictures: Red Bull RB19 finally uncovered in Bahrain

2023 F1 season

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Red Bull’s RB19, the car the team seeks to defend its two world championship titles from 2022 with, made its track debut this morning as Formula 1 pre-season testing began.

Not seen in public until it emerged from Red Bull’s garage at Bahrain International Circuit, it is among the last two of this year’s F1 cars to be seen as the rest of the teams revealed their 2023 designs either during launches or shakedown tests.

Red Bull brought the RB18 to their season launch in New York on 3rd February to show off the RB19’s livery for the upcoming season. They later conducted a shakedown test at Silverstone, but it was held in secrecy with no images of the RB19 released.

The car is being driven solely by Max Verstappen today. The reigning world champion will share driving duties with his team mate Sergio Perez tomorrow.

Alexander Albon, Williams, Bahrain International Circuit, 2023 pre-season test
Gallery: 2023 F1 pre-season testing day one in pictures
The car is visibly an evolution of the car which won 17 of the 22 grands prix last year. The undercut beneath its sidepods, already one of the most impressive on the grid last year, is even more pronounced, indicating the team has worked hard to package its cooling systems and electronics within its tightly-contoured sidepods.

The RB19 is the 17th of Red Bull’s cars to be overseen by chief technical officer Adrian Newey, and the second since the team set up its own powertrain division. However its power unit is labelled a ‘Honda RBPT’ this year, having simply been called a Red Bull engine in 2022.

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Ida Wood
Often found in junior single-seater paddocks around Europe doing journalism and television commentary, or dabbling in teaching photography back in the UK. Currently based...

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9 comments on “First pictures: Red Bull RB19 finally uncovered in Bahrain”

  1. More or less as expected.

    1. @jerejj
      I disagree. The details on the entire car (bodywork, floor…) are insane. They are basically doing a Mercedes here. Mercedes in the hybrid era with the exception of 2022 used to arrive at the first race with a major upgrade package which reflects their work methodology as explained by Allison in an interview.

      RBR have arrived at the first test with a car that looks very much developed which explains perhaps the rumours that suggested that the work on the RB19 started earlier than planned to anticipate a potential budget cap penalty.

      1. the upper bulge looks like a double decker ferrari.
        The strutucture that ferrari had only the the side pods, now is on RB sidepods and engine cover.
        I worry that is the way the car will look ugly, but lets wait.

      2. @tifoso1989
        Woah stop! You can’t disagree with @jerejj, you silly. You have no idea what he had expected.
        I also expected their car to be “insane” and taking some ideas from Mercedes, so calm down.

      3. @tifoso1989 I mean, I expected mostly similar-looking to RB18.

  2. They are really shameless with those fake presentations.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      23rd February 2023, 11:24

      I’m sure they are literally shameless – largely because there’s nothing to feel shame about. Most of the other teams are free to show off their cars whenever they want. Who’s going to try and copy a Haas or an Alpine!?

      We’ve got half the grid showing up in cars that look suspiciously like the RB18 so Red Bull have waited until the last second to show off the car they’ll all be copying next.

  3. there is a strange shape under the side intakes, like a lump at the front of the floor.

    I don’t think I’ve seen it on any of the other cars yet.

  4. Looks like the “busiest” bodywork on the grid!

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