Red Bull’s 2022 championship contender, the RB18 appeared in public for the first time at the pre-season shakedown in Barcelona’s Catalunya track on Wednesday.
Red Bull has finally shown off the actual RB18 in the pre-season test at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya which began today.
This comes after Red Bull officially unveiled the new livery for the 2022 season using a model car and not the actual RB18. The team has, however, kept the real RB18 a secret, completing a shakedown test behind closed doors at Silverstone last week before releasing the real deal today.
Because of the secrecy surrounding teams’ 2022 vehicle designs, we’ve seen some reveal show cars with their new liveries on a generic 2022 model during launch season, but now that testing is beginning, we’re getting a better indication of what each team has done ahead of the new campaign.
When the RB18 first took to the track at the Circuit de Catalunya on the first day of pre-season testing, it drew a lot of attention as the sidepods are abruptly chopped away just beneath its air intakes, and according to the design missing any paint, brings us to a conclusion that have been finished only recently.
As the Bahrain Grand Prix kicks off the new season on March 20th, there has been a lot of buzz about the new regulations and rules that will be in force, as well as how each team will interpret them.
Max Verstappen gave the new Red Bull contender its first outing on Monday at the Circuit de Catalunya. He was also the first Red Bull driver to take the RB18 out for a ride today.
“We got our first impression of the RB18 at our filming day last week and the car looks good,” said Verstappen ahead of today’s test.
“The rules are very different this year and so it is nice to get your first few laps in and get a feel for it.
“I don’t have any aims for the season yet, I just want to rock up to the track and try and do the best I can, like I do every single year. If the car is quick, I am sure we can do a very good job again.
“I am looking forward to another fun year together with the Team and Checo, he is a great guy and we really push each other, which at the end of the day is good for the Team.”
Sergio Perez will take over from Verstappen on Thursday while they will split driving duties on Friday.
