Red Bull Racing to launch 2013 Formula 1 car on February 3 – Formula 1 news
Current Formula 1 constructors’ and drivers’ champions Red Bull Racing have announced that they will launch their 2013 car on February 3.
The 2013 car of Red Bull Racing, which will be termed as the RB9, will be launched just in time for the first pre-season test scheduled to be held in Jerez, Spain from February 5-8. The RB9 will take its name from its predecessors, the RB6 (2010), the RB7
(2011) and the RB8 (2012), all of whom won both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships.
Although it was a close season right until the final race in 2010, which Red Bull eventually managed to win, they were the clear dominating force in the 2011 season, winning the championship with 3 races to go. However, with the new rule changes made by
the FIA for the 2012 campaign, Red Bull Racing found it extremely difficult to come to terms with all the front running cars of McLaren, Ferrari and Lotus.
In the first half of the 2012 season, Red Bull Racing had managed to win just two races, one each by Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber respectively. While Vettel came out victorious in Bahrain, Webber clinched the famed Monaco Grand Prix. Although Webber
managed to win again three rounds later in Britain, it was not until the Singapore Grand Prix two months later where Sebastian Vettel came out victorious.
It was a point where Vettel was 40 points behind the championship leader, Fernando Alonso of Ferrari. From then onwards, Vettel did not look back and won four consecutive races to give himself the chance of a championship. In the end, he managed to clinch
his third successive title with Red Bull Racing by managing the required result in the season finale in Brazil.
Adrian Newey was largely credited with the team’s third consecutive title double, however, it also meant that they had to continue focussing on their 2012 car right until the last race, thereby reducing the development time for the 2013 car. Newey was also
recently quoted as saying that they were behind schedule as far as their 2013 car was concerned. However, with this announcement, it seems the champion team have got their act together and will give the RB9 its first shakedown on February 5.
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