Red Bull Racing - Red Bull RB6

Red Bull launched their 2010 car, the RB6, at the start of the second pre-season F1 test at Jerez. Team Principal Christian Horner and Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey were on hand together with the team's race drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel to reveal the new car to the press and answer the inevitable barrage of questions that follow.

The RB6 is, in Adrian Newey's own words, a refinement of the RB5, the main difference being that this car's rear end has been purpose designed around a full double diffuser, rather than having one stuck on as happened last year. Be scared, McLaren and Ferrari. Be very scared. Adrian Newey cars have a reputation of being very, very good or so extreme in their search for performance that running them is a bit like trying to bounce an egg on a concrete slab. A raw egg, that is. Having the Renault engine last year was viewed by most in the paddock as being a bit of a disadvantage but this proved to be the case only, somewhat embarrassingly, for Renault. Newey made it work really, really well in the RB5 and we can expect more of the same this year what with the engine freeze and all that.

Mark Webber is a strong and experienced driver who, a bit like Jenson Button, has yet to find himself in the right car at the right time. Last year might have been it, were it not for the double diffuser argument and the fact that he found that his team mate was, horror of horrors, able to make the same car go faster. A nicer bloke in F1 you'll find it difficult to meet (I met him at the Jaguar R3 launch) but that doesn't win races. 2010 could yet be his year if the car is up to scratch, given that for at least part of 2009 he was still recuperating from his broken leg.

Sebastian Vettel impressed mightily on his F1 debut for BMW Sauber in 2007 when he deputised for Robert Kubica following his hugh crash at Montreal. Subsequently he was released to move to Toro Rosso where he struggled initially but picked up his pace in the early part of the 2008 season which for him and Toro Rosso culminated in his and the team's first F1 win at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Such a display of driving earned him a promotion to Red Bull for 2009 where he capitalised on a good car to take four wins and four other podiums and finish second in the championship. Not at all bad for a driver with just two and a half years experience and a team not used to running at the sharp end of the grid.

Red Bull have one of the best technical minds in the business guiding their car design and development in the shape of Adrian Newey. With a top-line engine and two excellent drivers, the team really has no excuses for not running consistently at or very near the front of the pack in 2010 - particularly as it took an extra ten days to get its car ready to run. Expect the team to be in the thick of it from the beginning of the season.

author: Phil Haigh