Red Bull RB6 unveiled at Jerez

Championship runners-up Red Bull have finally launched their contender for the 2010 season. Codenamed the RB6, it is expected to take the team forward after their huge success last season winning 6 races. Designed by yesteryear star Adrian Newey, the car will try to emulate its success from 2009 in the hands of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. Red Bull will be targeting the title this season after beating mainstream challengers Ferrari and Mclaren in 2009.

“Having won Grands Prix, achieved pole positions and finished second in both the constructors’ and drivers’ championships, our goal for 2010 has to be to go for the championship,” said team principal Christian Horner. “2009 was a massive year for the team and I think we took a huge step forward. Red Bull Racing’s still a relatively young team and so the lessons that we learned last year will serve us well going into 2010.

“The performance of the car developed throughout 2009 and I believe we ended the year with the best chassis. We’ve had stability over the winter and continuity in all areas, so I think we’re in good shape. We completely respect the quality of our opponents, but we’re setting ourselves aggressive targets. It’s fantastic to see the car finally taking to the track after so much hard work and effort.”

The car has undergone lots of changes due to revised rules that ask for narrower front tyres, bigger fuel tanks and a fully integrated double deck diffuser. The diffuser has already been banned for the 2011 season though.

“The RB6 is very much an evolution of the 2009 car; we tried to refine and evolve it rather than go to new concepts,” explained chief technical officer Adrian Newey. “As a result, the car looks similar with elements such as the chassis and pull-rod rear suspension retained. The two main challenges were the larger fuel tank and the smaller front tyre.

“With the fuel tank, there was more to it than simply putting a bigger tank in the car – it puts more load on the brakes, so the brake cooling has to cope with that and you also have to consider what effect that extra fuel will have on the tyre degradation early in the race and if there’s anything we should change mechanically to cope with that.

“The narrower front tyre changes weight distribution and the balance of the car. I think it’s a sensible evolution of the 2009 car. One obvious difference is that the 2009 car was not designed to suit a double-diffuser and we had to try to put one on as best we could around the existing rear suspension and gearbox. With this car we’ve been able to design that part of the car from scratch.”

The team skipped the Valencia test to spend more time in the wind tunnel for the cars development and will be given its first shakedown at Jerez.