Red Bull debut RB12 as testing begins in Spain

Red Bull have revealed their 2016 Formula One challenger, the RB12, which makes its track debut this morning as all-team, pre-season testing begins at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.

Beyond the striking matte livery unveiled in London last week, the all-new RB12, which is powered by a TAG Heuer badged Renault engine, incorporates a host of improvements based on the lessons learned from the 2015 season.

Commenting on the new car and the season ahead, team Principal, Christian Horner said: “Obviously the late engine decision last year was a challenge but we found a solution in time and the whole team has worked incredibly hard to recover over the winter. Therefore, we’re looking to build on the significant progress we made in the second half of 2015 and to carry that momentum into the early races of this season.

“My hopes for this season are that we genuinely make progress from where we were last year; that we get our heads down and we really develop the car well and hopefully with some performance coming on the power unit side as well, that will allow us to get closer to some of our immediate rivals.”

Speaking about the design of the RB12, chief technical officer, Adrian Newey added: “I’m often asked what area of the car I’m most pleased with, but with the stable regulations we have at the moment it’s difficult to find any major new areas to exploit.

“Therefore, what we’ve really tried to concentrate on with this car is getting a cohesive package for all the parts - the suspension, the chassis dynamics, aerodynamics - that they all work together in harmony. I think we’ve managed to build on the lessons of last year and all the indications from our simulations suggest that this year’s chassis should be strong.”

Red Bull, who retain the unchanged driver line-up of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat for 2016, finished fourth in last year’s constructor standings, with Ricciardo’s second place in Singapore and Kvyat’s identical placing in Hungary their best results.

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