F1
Our Car Launches Over The Years
In just under two weeks time, we’re heading to Detroit, the home of Ford, for a landmark launch of the RB22.
Welcoming the Blue Oval back to F1 is going to be big, but we reckon we can handle it. After all, we’ve got plenty of experience introducing cars in pretty spectacular ways. So, before we embark on Mission Motor City, let’s take a look back at some of our biggest, boldest and best car launches…
01
2005, Melbourne
That First Car Feel
© Getty Images
Taking The RB1 For A Spin
© Getty Images
First Race Action
© Getty Images
Simple Lines
© Getty Images
Back in 2005, F1 was a pretty conservative, uncomfortably corporate place that took itself very, very seriously. The last thing it needed was an upstart disruptor with no history of building racing cars coming along to frighten the horses. Oh wait…
Two months after Red Bull had acquired the team and just a couple of days before the start of the season at Albert Park, we announced ourselves to F1 with one of the all-time great launch parties. Hosted in Melbourne’s trendy Dockland, the RB1 appeared through a mist of dry ice with pop icon Pink at the wheel urging a host of celebs and paddock people to Get the Party Started. They did; we kept going, and F1 would never be the same.
02
2007, Melbourne
Testing The RB3
© Getty Images
First Day Of School Photos
© Getty Images
The Racing Line
© Getty Images
Hitting The Apex
© Getty Images
Season 2 saw the team the RB2 debut at an Arabian Nights-themed launch in Bahrain, but while that was good, year three took the party back to Melbourne, and on a vast film studio soundstage, the local crowd, plus a host of celebs and top athletes, went wild for the team’s new recruit, home hero Mark Webber, and also for the mighty Wolfmother, who rocked the roof off the place. (If you don’t remember Wolfmother, check out the official videos for ‘Woman’ or ‘Joker & The Thief’).
03
2015, Jerez
The RB11 front on
© Red Bull Content Pool
We’ve always had a knack for subverting traditional F1 tropes and in 2015 we turned the notion of ‘a low-key launch at the first test’ on its head. When the shutters went up at the Circuito de Jerez to reveal the RB11, the gasps were audible. Instead of the familiar blue, silver and red of the team’s livery the new car rolled out wearing a startling, geometric black and white ‘dazzle’ colour scheme. Originating in WWI, dazzle paint was conceived not to hide a ship but to confuse the eye as to its range, speed and heading. The effect was later adopted by auto manufacturers who wanted to hide details of prototype cars from spy cameras. The effect on the RB11 had the opposite effect. Dubbed ‘Camobull’ the RB11’s livery was an internet sensation and made the RB11’s launch the biggest of 2015.
04
2016, London
Ricciardo, Horner and Kvyat in their new team-wear
© Mark Thompson/Getty Images
Red Bull has always been an edgy brand and in 2016 the team took that idea and ran with it, heading to the hipster haven of the old Truman Brewery in London’s East End for a launch that saw the RB12 debut with a subtle matte livery and a whole new team aesthetic that was more ‘street style’ than fusty old F1 paddock. “It’s part of going back to basics,” said then-Team Principal Christian Horner. “We’re going for something a little more edgy, that marks us out as different from the crowd. We’re a bit more individual than some of the more corporate competitors that we race against.”
05
2022, Worldwide
Sneak A Peak At RB18
© Oracle Red Bull Racing
Changing the game has always been part of the team’s DNA and in 2022 we broke new ground with a launch that put fans at the heart of the process. Ahead of the online launch supporters around the world were invited to take on the role of launch presenter on their own channels, and after the team’s dedicated fan space ‘The Paddock’ had chosen its favourites, the RB18 was simultaneously revealed on a staggering 5,000 different channels, making the most-streamed launch ever.
06
2023, New York
The team’s most recent landmark launch took us to the Big Apple for the first-ever US launch of a Formula 1 car. The gala event at New York’s Classic Car Club, with Max, Checo and the RB19 as its stars, also introduced another groundbreaking concept – a trio of fan-designed liveries. The Make Your Mark contest to allow fans to design the liveries the team would race at the year’s three US races was a huge success. In a video introduction of the contest, famed artist Mr Doodle covered an Oracle Red Bull Racing car with his trademark black-and-white doodles, challenging fans to submit their most mind-blowing creations for the US events.