Red Bull RB7, Valencia, 2011

Red Bull RB7 launch: First pictures

2011 F1 cars

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Red Bull have launched their RB7 in Valencia.

World champion Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber revealed the car which Red Bull hope will retain the titles they won last year.

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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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131 comments on “Red Bull RB7 launch: First pictures”

  1. Nothing too radical apart from the shorter fin. Thanks Keith!

    1. It’s a hammerhead shark!

      1. Hard to tell from that shot, but the rear wing looks different.

        1. We need more time to say anything as we have only one pic to tell from.

        2. It looks as though the rear wing collapses in towards the top.

        3. Yeah, its got some sort of fin that demarcates the wing. Fins already added before testing? Well these are just “show” cars anyways, most will look a bit different.

      2. It’s eating the camera pod. Nothing too radical??? You must be talking about webbers hair cut.

    2. miguelF1O (@)
      1st February 2011, 12:44

      the moveable wing is identical to renault maybe a partnership in here

    3. miguelF1O (@)
      1st February 2011, 12:45

      anyway its very slick very well packaged i dont see any enlargement despite the kers i only see it thinner

    4. Red Bull has a semi-shark fin.

    5. Their last year’s car was radical enough for them to keep a margin without further development, focusing on reducing failures.

    6. hate new red bull launches, the look exactly the same! bet it goes like stink though!

      1. I know. Its almost identicle to the RB6 launch, right down to Vettel wearing the same silly hat. What is with that?

  2. she is so slim!

  3. Shark fin. Interesting.

    Dare i say first?

    1. It’s definitely a hammer head shark with a chunk ripped out by a rotating blade off the Titanic. ( or equivalent rotating blade of super huge proportions)

  4. That’s another “lower” nose cone from other cars. I guess there will be some bad comments about the shark fin though!

    1. Indeed, the Torro Rosso obviously has the same too, In fact the Torro Rosso looks identical but with the fin removed. I thought these teams had to independently develop their cars now? Clearly they are still sharing the designs.

      1. I think the Toro Rosso looks incredibly different. Go back and have another look, different nose, sidepods, no shark fin. They are still owned by the same company, but they are not the same design.

      2. Ha! Independently? That was and is never going to happen.

        1. Sad but true.

        2. We Want Turbos (@)
          1st February 2011, 16:17

          Think Newey may have left his drawings lying around whilst he nipped to the loo

          1. And Red Bull Employ the Nigel Stepney Cleaning Company.

  5. uhh, whats the difference? I think we are no longer going to see different styles of cars every year.

    1. There are a few differences that are pretty obvious, the nose is higher and shaped pretty differently, the rear wing is different, the shark fin is shorter to comply with the regs.

      1. “The nose is higher” is anything but obvious. Compare to RB6 launch photos.

    2. I think also that they managed to again shrink the sidepods at the end, look how short and slim? But maybe I forgot how small they are on the RB6. Definitely an evolution, but that seems only logical as they were the fastest w/o DDD in 2009, and with DDD in 2010 with a similar concept.

      1. They removed the DDD. Other than that the rear doesn’t look much different.

  6. I guess when you’ve got the best car you can be conservative – but I can’t help but think they may get overtaken by McLaren this year if the boys and gals from Woking come good…

  7. Wow… the back looks so slim, does it even have a back-end?? :-)

  8. Tom and Charlie
    1st February 2011, 7:44

    That area around the rear suspension arms looks so slim, is that a stabiliser coming from the back of the side pod to the rear hub??

  9. Let’s all play spot-the-exhaust…

    1. BTW the one pictured in the video on RBR.com* has horizontal fins on the airbox too, which the first photo doesn’t.

      *or at least the Haynes image you see if you don’t have flash

  10. nice quick post!

  11. am i wrong or the nose is higher than last year, as Ferrari?

  12. The shark fin looks similar to the Le Mans cars shark fin. And look at total, hlending into the car, why couldnt they do that on the Renault?

  13. They seemed to have rolled out last years car, so disappointed!

    1. Seriously? Look again!

    2. What were you expecting? A fifth wheel? jet engine? flame-throwers?

      Anyhoo – what I find interesting is that they too have gone with a flatter nose design, like the other cars we’ve seen – so what is it about this year’s regulations that’s dictating that as a solution for everyone we’ve seen so far?

      1. My money’s on massive front wings, and perhaps more than one team with front-mounted exhausts

        1. …adding I mean, this has winglets on the nose. That’s a first for this year isn’t it? Lots of front downforce plus the new weight distribution suggests impressive rear downforce?

          1. That is the Camera Gridlock :)

      2. A fifth wheel is not revolutionary – it’s been standard since before the days of Fangio and Moss – Front Left, Front Right, Rear Right, Rear Left and Steering Wheel!!!

      3. I read on scarbs blog that there now is a maximum height that the nose can be above the cockpit, so adding big ridges and a severe V-shape means that the nose as a whole has to be lower (the ridges also fall under that maximum), leaving on the whole less space under the nose; hence teams moving to a flatter, raised, nose.

        1. Thanks for that, bosyber!

    3. It’s completely different, I think.

      However i’m still trying to decide whether I like the shape of it. The back end is so…well…lacking a back end.

  14. The livery is better than last year.I hope it stands out from the torro rosso.

    1. You’re joking right? Other than the uprights of the rear wing it’s pretty much identical to last year.

      1. Hahaha.. Love these comments sometimes…!

  15. Argh, there’s a shark fin! It’s not as ugly as it could be, but it looks like it’s only there to let Red Bull have a bigger red bull on the engine cowling.

    1. Yep – not happy about that shark fin. Thought we’d seen the back of them!

      1. Instead we’re seeing them on the back…

    2. Haha my thoughts exactly PM! Looks like they put it on just so they wouldn’t have to clip the tail off their bull.

    3. Yes, that Adrian Newey — always putting logos first! ;-)

  16. matt88 i agree they are copying ferrari bloody cheaters lmao

    1. i didn’t mean they copied. i only asked if this is the trend of the season. Period.

  17. http://twitpic.com/3ve4wq

    RB7 side on. You can get a very close-up view.

    1. Wow, interesting. There’s a little bit in the middle of the rear wing that’s like an extension of the shark fin. Dare I say it’s an “interrupted shark fin?” http://twitpic.com/3ve4wq/full

      1. It’s a sark fin that’s designed to let Red Bull have a bigger logo.

      2. Yup. More like a sardine fin though

        Somebody seen my glove by the way?

        1. Lolz Verstapen :) look for it under the right rear tyre ;)

      3. thats just the device for moving the rear wing isnt it, other teams seem to have something similar

    2. Love the high tech way of keeping the car in place… a glove under the right rear wheel!

  18. It already looks like the most ‘futuristic’ of the cars launched thus far. Newey and Co. have trumped the opposition again (hopefully on track too)!

  19. Looks like those Red Bull-Infiniti rumours came to nought.

  20. Why is it Webber always looks like he’s miserable?

    1. Might have something to do with what is on his left knee.

    2. Its hard being a number 2 driver.

      1. But as we all know, he’s not bad for a number 2 driver…

    3. I like miserable Webber than hairy Vettel looking like young Heidfeld thanks to their ‘moustache’…

  21. I just made a quick drawing of the car =P look: http://cdn.images.autosport.com/editorial/1296546327.jpg

    1. Do you have a similar drawing from the RB6? Comparison pics would really be helpful to see if they indeed did shrink the side pods again, and if the nose really is a lot higher.

      1. By the way: great work! Forgot to say that above.

    2. Nice job :)

  22. looks like a good car…

  23. It seems like red bull’s exhaust is almost similar to last year’s. pic

  24. What is going on under the nose cone near the suspension mounts? Looks like a massive keel or something. The above shot thats a few posts above also shows it. Something big and black under there.

    1. and no I dont mean the splitter jutting forward. in front of that.

      1. Don’t know what they’re called, but those were there last year.