“You beauty,” was the characteristically offbeat message from Red Bull Racing’s PR department as the team took the wraps off its new car in Jerez today.
It was a fitting hook. Featuring one of the most innovative sculpted front wings seen so far with a triple element base, not to mention an eye-catching pull rod the RB5 is by far Adrian Newey’s most radical design yet.
And with sweeping regulation changes affording Red Bull an opportunity to wipe the slate clean and reset their baselines, it might just prove to be quick too.
Newey was pragmatic though about Red Bull’s approach to the new regulations for 2009 which include a 50 per cent reduction in downforce, and the introduction of KERS and slick tyres.
“One of the things that tends to happen when you have a rule change like this is that early on certainly in our case we don t have the resources to pursue lots of different routes.
“So we settled on an overall route and concept for the car which we felt best suited the regulations and we ve pursued that without looking at lots of different ones in parallel. And I suspect some other teams have done the same.
“Which combination eventually proves to be the best, history will tell in two or three years time as the cars converge. But through this year there will be some significant differences between them.”
Newey adds: “I certainly enjoy big regulation changes. It gives you much more of a chance for a clean sheet of paper rather than very small evolutions of established themes.Whether it plays to Red Bull s advantage or not is difficult to say.
“You can argue it two ways. You can either say it opens up the possibility of a few good ideas that, if properly implemented, can give a benefit. Or you can say that it actually plays to the teams that have the biggest resources and therefore can possibly pursue lots of different avenues.
“So I don t know.”
