Red Bull Racing is coming off of a VERY good 2011 Formula One season. Their RB7 racing car took home 12 wins and 27 podiums with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Weber behind the wheel.
Unfortunately, time doesn't stand still in F1 and rule changes -- as well as competition from other makers -- meant that they would have to redesign the RB7. This is the car they're replacing it with, the RB8. Red Bull isn't going into detail about the new car, but we see that it has the same stepped wing design we're seeing from everyone this season. They pull it off better than Ferrari does, though. It doesn't have to be pretty and it isn't. Time will tell if it's as fast as the RB7.
Red Bull will continue to have Vettel and Weber as drivers next year.
stovt001 says:
12:38 PM, 02/ 6/12
In this article:
http://www.insideline.com/mclaren/new-mclaren-f1-racecar-evolutionary-not-revolutionary.html
Moar_revs asked me what I meant by everyone else going to the stepped nose when McLaren didn't. Well now we have Caterham, Force India, Lotus, Sauber, Toro Rosso, and now Red Bull all with stepped noses.
I rest my case.
I'm still hoping McLaren made the right call, but right now they're the only ones who have gone with a smooth nose. They'd better know something no one else knows.
duck87 says:
09:23 AM, 02/ 7/12
@stovt001: The "step" is obviously for aerodynamics, as new F1 rules and regulations are trying to lower the front section of the nose as much as possible (due to Mark Webber's hilarious accident.. I think "Red Bull Gives you Wings" was overused the few weeks after: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOBKA9q_DWU).
The thinking is that there is now an invisible "box" section a certain height off the ground and a certain distance away from centerline that the FIA mandated that there can be no bodywork. This box is located a certain distance up the nose for most cars, which is why you see a giant step (as the nose design for most cars touch a corner of the invisible box and moves around it). For McLaren, they simply used a parabolic sloping nose, one point of which touches the corner of the box before continuing to slope down.
I'm not sure if this is really as big a deal as most make it- because the slope of the nose alone won't make a huge difference. The main affect seems to be the movement of the air towards the sidepods (of which the McLaren was also quite different from the others). The question is how well everything works together as a package after all...
stovt001 says:
10:59 AM, 02/ 7/12
@duck: I'm aware of the reasoning. However, I think even a slight difference in aerodynamics is significant especially among the frontrunners. No doubt McLaren has a different aerodynamic strategy - as you note the sidepods are also much different than the others. Whenever one zigs while all others zag, it is going to be interesting.