Pictures: Red Bull reveal their “prettiest” F1 car for 2017

2017 F1 cars

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The first pictures of the new Red Bull RB13 for 2017 have been revealed.

A video of the car released by the team on the day before testing is due to begin revealed little of the RB13’s details. However the car’s nose, which appears to incorporate a vent, immediately drew attention.

Team principal Christian Horner described the RB13 as “one of the prettiest cars we’ve designed and made.”

“The geometry of the car under these new regulations, the proportions looks right,” he said. “It looks mean, it looks fast.”

“It’s that old adage ‘if it looks right, it tends to go alright’. And this car for sure looks right.”

Chief technical officer Adrian Newey agreed the new regulations for 2017 are a change for the better.

“There’s a feeling, which I do agree with that since we went to narrow-track cars back in 1998 the cars always looked a bit out-of-proportion,” he said. “Quite a narrow car, reasonably wide tyres, and very long cars, increasingly.”

“So the proportions look strange. By going back to a wider track with a wider tyres, proportionally they should look better.”

The RB13 will have its first run when testing begins at the Circuit de Catalunya tomorrow. “It always an anxious moment before the car runs for the first time, for it to drive out of the garage down the pit lane,” said Horner.

“The first thing you want to see is it comes back at the end of the lap. But it’s an exciting moment to see the car break cover.”

After winning two races last year and finishing second in the world championship the team has set it sights on competing with Mercedes in 2017.

“Mercedes for sure they’re the triple world champions, they’re the team to beat,” said Horner. “They set the bar pretty high but that’s what we’re aspiring to.”

“The driver line-up we have is fantastic, we’ve had great stability in the team, and we’re excited about the year ahead.”

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    100 comments on “Pictures: Red Bull reveal their “prettiest” F1 car for 2017”

    1. Red Bull reveal they’re new line of hoovers..

      Does look good though.

    2. It’s only one photo so far, but that looks pretty standard if I’m honest. Expected more bells and whistles.

      1. small sidepods, like the McLaren look almost slightly angled inwards, very undercut though and sculpted which I suppose is good, bit nothing as fancy as the Ferrari or the Mercedes. Maybe they figure simplicity is key.

      2. (Most likely, and typical Red Bull, is that this is just for today and come testing the car is vastly more intricate. But I don’t want to wait till tomorrow)

        1. Lucky for us, we get another treat tomorrow then ;)

      3. Like McLaren, Williams etc we have seen the basic shapes. The bits Ferrari and Merc have are stick on bits, if you removed the bits then look at Ferrari and McLaren. By the end of the week all these cars will have more and more stick on aero bits put on them. The basic car shapes will not change so wait until next week whe we can all see multiple pictures of cars with various bolt on bits.

      4. @hahostolze – This is just a launch mock-up akin to the “RB9” or “RB8” mannequins that were used a test-bed in the first days of testing in 2012 and 2013. The fully fledged Newey masterpieces didn’t turn up until the final test. Looking here, this “RB13” has the RB12’s rear bodywork, the RB12’s tower bargeboards and front-wing elements suspiciously similar to those Red Bull were running in Abu Dhabi. If anything it is pretty encouraging that Red Bull are going to such efforts to be secret squirrel out of the box.

        1. @william-brierty that’s an intriguing (and probably true) perspective, hadn’t thought of it that way. Ta.

    3. Looks very nice! I do kinda wish that the bull was extended to the sharkfin like their 2009 and 2010 cars.

      1. It’s almost as if they put it on the car on the very last moment.

        1. they probably did. Not sculpted nor is the Bull’s tail on it

    4. That nose sets it squarely on the ugliest category…

      1. That’s a crossing between a tapir and a shark now… Difficult to say anything based on that picture and video which shows more things related to the 13 number than their car. Quite disapointing compared to other launches. At least Mercedes and McLaren had a proper way to present their car.

      2. The nose might be ugly…but it has a pretty important function. Ever heard of a W-Duct? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ9cFis55xM

        Look at this ;)

        1. Yes you are right about the WDuct, but it is illegal now isn’t it? you are only allowed to have a whole at the front for driver cooling.

    5. The front nose looks kinda horrible to me, like a thumb that sticks out, even though it’s painted black.
      Otherwise, the livery looks like last year’s, and I liked last year’s livery, so it’s all fine to me c:

      I keep hoping they’ll use the shark fin to showcase the driver’s number tho ._. so much empty unused space back there.

    6. There seems to be a hole at the nose tip.. never seen that before.

      1. Yeah, that sucks…. literally.

        1. Lmao

          1. USB port?

    7. That fin has to be a dummy. They didn’t even bother to extend the bull on it. Even the lines are cut off.

    8. Meh, another fail for this season. Ugly nose cone again, ugly wings, ugly fin, looks disproportional.

      1. Whats ugly about the wings?

    9. Ugliest nose I’ve seen so far. Mid to back end of the car looks similair to the McLaren. I notice a small stripe above the air intake, underneats the Citrix logo. What is it?

      1. Thats a Puma logo

        1. Oh no you mean to the left :D i suppose another air-duct

      2. the ugliest nose prize goes to ferrari 2nd year in a row

    10. Is it the angle of the photo or does the car look shorter in length?

      1. angle

    11. Look good and by far the most simple looking car. Just compare it’s side pods with the Ferrari.

    12. petebaldwin (@)
      26th February 2017, 12:16

      Hoover should have paid to have a logo on the nose of that car…

    13. It looks good but it doesn’t look anywhere near as complex as the Ferrari, or even the Mercedes designs. In that regard it seems to have more in common with the Williams – neither car seem particularly changed from last year, unlike some of the others that are quite uniquely designed.

      Whether that’s a good thing or not I guess we’ll find out.

      1. @rocketpanda a part of me can’t help but think that either they are sandbagging or they begin with a simple design to test and have lots of spare parts in the garage. The McLaren also seem too simple to be the racing version.

    14. Intriguing. Looks kinda standard, like the Williams, not much special aero stuff, unless they aren’t showing that yet.

      1. The livery does look good as ever though.

    15. In my opinion best looking car, with Renault being a good second.

      Don’t agree on any of the nose and sharkfin comments…

    16. People were making fun of the SF14T back in the day, some event calling it a leaf blower. Don’t know what this is, but it either sucks or blows.

    17. I love it. By the longest strip the nicest car this year, even if it is basically the same as last year. There’s enough change to keep it exiting. Pull it off RB. You will look better on the podium
      :)

    18. The the good things about the car is how the livery treats the shark fin and the straight-forwardness of the winglets on the sidepods.
      I rank this car at the bottom of the cars so far, with only the Ferrari being uglier.

      1. F.I ugliest for me. Ferrari and Merc the best. Love how people see things so different. Overall though all the cars look better than anything from 2009-2016.

    19. Looks standard to me. Nothing interesting.

    20. The part where the race number is and the nose starts dipping is intriguing though. Two bulges? Or a duct and a bulge?

      1. @hahostolze It’s an S-Duct. You can get a glimpse of it from the overhead shots in the video.

    21. That front wing!!!!

    22. and people were saying the McLaren looks under developed… I wonder what Red Bull are hiding…

      I bet it’s all the stuff you can’t see that really counts

      lets hope both McLaren and Red Bull have something up their sleave

      1. I also hope, but i’m always unlucky

      2. And since we don’t have actual shots yet.. id say thats likely.

    23. So far for me it’s:

      Beautiful:
      1. McLaren
      2. Sauber (aka vintage Ligier)
      Nice:
      3. Mercedes
      Ok:
      4. Williams, Renault
      Ugly:
      6. Red Bull
      7. Force India
      8. Ferrari

      1. You rate the Ferrari that low? Why? A red car can never be that ugly.

        1. @spafrancorchamps Here’s why:
          1. The nose – looks like a plank broken mid way with no curvature to make, with tiny ugly winglets in that particular place for more damage as well.
          2. The ugly broken shaped hump (how do we call the thing behind the driver’s head with the air intlet?), made even more ugly by the line of the white livery and shark fin. The side view is awful because of that.
          3. The colour scheme on the front wing consisting of segments look bad.

      2. Someone else’s observation, but we shouldn’t loose sight of overall aerodynamic philosophy. The Mercedes looks amazing but then last year the RB was quite simple in many respects. Personally, I’m just in awe of all these amazing designers.

      3. Let’s wait and see which one is the fastest.

      4. I agree… i miss the sf15t style of nose. the renault is nice and agressive look too

    24. Surprisingly simple… Tiny sidepod openings though! For me Newey’s aero design style has always been expressed in the big gestures; the extreme angle of rake in recent cars for example; the kind of designs that are born on a drawing board (which I believe he still uses). I’m not saying that red bull aren’t capable of extremely complex aero philosophy, but if red bull are Newtonian physics, Mercedes current designs are analogous to quantum mechanics!

      1. @travis-daye Let’s not forget Newtonian physics couldn’t explain the relationship of more than two bodies in relation with one another, hence why we needed a more complex solution as provided by Laplace. I really, really want to see Mercedes challenged this year, but this RedBull doesn’t give wings.

        1. Three body problem solved @simeonoff? Pray tell…

          1. @john-h you can solve a three-object problem for objects that have constant gravitational force, mass, and velocity.

      2. I had often wondered why teams didn’t have the s duct inlet at the nose…
        Great avant garde art cinema introduction!
        I suspect that the Red Bull that shows up to race will have more complex barge boards and other elements. Looks to have a very tidy rear end.

        1. Because rules don’t allow, I believe. I wonder if this is a Newey case of “it’s not a hole but a slot that goes from surface to surface”.

      3. @travis-daye as well as the sidepod air intakes, in general the red bull usually has the smallest overall size for the sidepods. I love them on the rb6 in particular.

        One particular point of note is that they’ve gone from an oval shaped air intake on the airbox to a rounded triangular shaped one for the first time since before 2009.

        Testing will be really interesting as concepts and elevate get added to the cars. I still can’t forget the stir that was created when red bull showed up to the final day of the 2010 test with painted on periscope exhausts to hide the fact they’d moved the exhaust below the car to blow the diffuser, everyone was wondering where the real exhausts were! Pure genius! Wonder if we’ll see any game changers this year?

      4. I believe they are purely releasing a simplified version of their real car. In testing, they will probably show something much more radical – I think they have something to hide.

    25. I don’t think any of these cars are as ugly as people make out. For me the thumb tip was never really an issue. The phallic noses and steps on the noses were horrific and people seemed to have forgotten the winglets circa 96. In my humble opinion these are the best looking group of cars since 2008, the shark fins arent that bad. Regarding the livery it’s interesting how people find cars without sponsorship bland. I rather like it as teams can choose liveries for the brand rather than sponsors. You never people complaining every year that the Ferrari is red again.

      1. Meant to say “you never hear people complaining every year that the Ferrari is red”

      2. Yeah certainly agree that the phallic noses and step noses were the worst @broke84.

          1. Grim innit? Almost as horrible as my skoda roomster.

    26. Wow. What an anticlimax!

      1. Yeah, and really disappointed with these terrible ‘reveals’. Brand new cars at the start of new regs, and all we get is 1 low quality jpeg. Well done F1. Engage the fans much?

        1. You don’t get a low-quality jpg, you get a high-quality movie.

          1. …and evidently, the most we can discern from that, is the single jpeg Keith has tried to get.

        2. I did enjoy the Ferrari one though. Vettel and Kimi trying not to laugh as the dramatic music plays. Thought it was quite amusing.

        3. SevenFiftySeven
          26th February 2017, 16:46

          Red Bull is a brand, not a works team. Try to associate ‘it gives you wings’ to the way they’ve brought out this teaser. Notice the launch video – there’s nothing in it except for what ‘this’ can be. It’s called marketing and brand engagement. They’d do it differently if they were defending champions, but they’re not. With this, RB managed to make a non-story into a story by keeping us waiting and giving us less. That is what this is about – it’s called marketing. It’s not about satisfying every person out there who views these launch cycles as personal entertainment to make their lives seem interesting.

          1. See: Toro Rosso launch – That’s how you reveal a car.

            Brought to you buy the very same company who (apparently) don’t want to make my life seem more interesting.

            Cheers.

      2. “One of the prettiest cars we’ve designed and made.” – Good old Horner, keeping the lie alive.

        Snot nose + Shark Fin is instant DQ from the pretty race. But, thanks for the laugh. Still…the livery is pretty good as befits a sugar water company.

    27. Newey got some experience with designing boats, RB10 looked like one. This one doesn’t.
      Love the packaging though.
      Still early days but Ferrari approach looks more and more interesting…

      Still waitin for Toro Rosso surprise ;)

    28. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
      26th February 2017, 12:55

      This Red Bull includes a cannon to take down the cars in front.

    29. It would surprise me if this really is RBR´s 2017 challenger as it seems very “basic” imo. It seems to me as this one is “showcar”, (perhaps based on their Pirelli tire test car) and not the real thing tbh. But I guess that we´ll know tomorrow if it is.. or not. Well, even today actually, as I presume that they would want to conduct a shake down of it before testing starts tomorrow if this is the real thing.

      1. or maybe it is a perfect chassis and doesn’t need tidily weird extensions and shape shifted parts. I bet it will be quick however it looks because of Newey, who knows how to shape and f1 car.

    30. It is a whistle!

    31. So far this is my least favourite. But I won’t be surprised if it looks much better in racing trim on the track.

    32. Was there a rule about no colour on the fin

      1. @jamiejay995
        Ha-ha it feels that way, doesn’t it?

    33. Redbull “Reveal” there 2017 effort lol. More like, “Hint at!” We’ll see the real thing tomorrow.

    34. Does anyone else feel sticking “13 unlucky for some” is tempting fate just that bit too much with their brand new Renault engines?

      1. It just reminds me of Maldonado to be honest!

      2. Try McLaren MP4/13 you’ll see how unlucky it was.

    35. RB12.5 You are not fooling us RB

      It does surprise me that the livery is exactly the same apart from a couple sponsors

      1. Why change something that’s excellent?

        1. That is true, but it isn’t a very RB-eske thing to do

    36. Looks kinda boxy in the studio. It’ll look great out on track though – I liked these colours a lot last year, and thanks to the low, wide stance most of the cars are looking good in action.

    37. Nice: Mercedes, renault, redbull, mclaren
      OK: williams, sauber(the livery is very nice)


      Awful: ferrari, haas,force india

      1. Is it matte again? can’t tell…

    38. I don’t mind the shark fins as long as they have some shape to them like the Haas. It’s hard to tell from the pics, but this one just looks like someone stuck on a piece of plywood and painted it. Also, I like how the nose is painted to hide it. Can’t wait to what that looks like in daylight.

    39. I really love how slim it is at the rear. Reminds me of the RB7. Is it just me or is there stuff going on between the front wing and wheels that are conveniently obscured by this angle? Can’t wait, and fortunately don’t have to, to get a good look in testing. Bring it on!

      It’s really going to be exciting to see which teams have the right concepts with their sculpting as the year unfolds into next. There seems to be a few different directions.

    40. Is that a kazoo attached to the nose?

    41. People that’s the RB12 with a few of the 2017 parts.

    42. That nose! I’m seeing a Benetton B190 underneath the blue paint…

    43. One thing to note is that apparently Red Bull are very late with the production of their car (either means they kept pushing or they weren’t satisfied) and this is just a rendering. The car was only bolted together the last few days before being shipped. Exepcting large changes the coming days.

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