Pictures of the new Aston Martin-Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB14 were released online earlier this morning as launch week for the 2018 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season gets underway.
Red Bull are the third team to launch their new challenger, following Haas F1 Team and Williams Martini Racing last week.
The outfit is famed for releasing their cars later than many other teams but this year decided to launch earlier, allowing them time to deal with any ‘snags‘ they encounter with it as Daniel Ricciardo will be taking it for its first laps this morning around the Silverstone circuit for a filming day.
The RB14 was released sporting a new livery, which was primarily blue, black and white, without any of the red and yellow that is typically found on their cars.
However, it was quickly announced that this was a ‘special edition livery‘ and the official livery would be kept under wraps until the first day of testing in a week’s time.
The ‘unfamiliar shapes‘ that can be seen on the car currently will be featured throughout the year.
The regulations have remained largely the same from last year, bar the introduction of the halo.
The challenge of the halo was primarily building a chassis strong enough to accommodate it, and passing the ‘brutal‘ homologation test.
The team will now head to Barcelona for the first set of pre-season testing which will take place from the 26 February to the 1 March.
Red Bull will be hoping to hit the ground running this year so that they can be a sustained threat in the World Championship.
