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.
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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2023 F1 season
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