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Red Bull launch the RB7 in Valencia - The championship defenders reveal their 2011 car

Published by Christine

The RB7 picks up where the winning RB6 left off
Credit: Red Bull Racing

A second packed day of launches kicked off with Red Bull, who took the covers off the brand new RB7 this morning, ahead of the first day of pre-season testing in Valencia.

The Adrian Newey design is the next generation of last year's championship-winning RB6, but has had to take hints from the chassis design before that. The RB5 was designed to run KERS, although never did, but in 2010, the energy recovery systems are back and the shape of the car reflects that.

First of all the car is third generation of a lineage starting with RB5, so it is further development of the family. We have adapted the car to suit the regulation changes, so putting KERS back on the car, going back to single diffuser, a few other details to suit the regulations.

- Adrian Newey

The livery looks pretty similar to its predecessor, with the main change being Vettel's car running with a number one on board. Winning both championships is seen as both a blessing and a curse in the team, with Vettel suggesting it takes the pressure off in one sense, but defending your title is something completely different. Meanwhile, Christian Horner is adamant it hasn't made the team complacent or arrogant even slightly.

There is a lot of enthusiasm and a huge amount of commitment. This has been the shortest build and production time in Red Bull's short history and the effort that has gone in from the factor has been quite phenomenal.

Adrian doesn't release his drawings any earlier these days and they built the car in less time. They sacrificed the family time at Christmas and so on. Testimony to what we have seen in the pitlane.

- Christian Horner

Like a lot of the teams, Red Bull have redesigned the rear wing quite considerably - partly to include the allowed adjustments this year, and partly to bring it in line with the regulations. The wing does look a lot flatter, and has a central divider. We'll see if this has any impact on the speed of the RB7 during testing this week.

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