F1: Red Bull RB18 Launched With Oracle Announced As New Title Sponsor

Max Verstappen's 2022 car has been unveiled albeit in a very secretive and unfinished avatar. Red Bull has taken the covers off from the RB18 which becomes the 2nd car after the Haas to be unveiled for the 2022 season. In 2022, there has been a dramatic reshuffle of the aerodynamic regulations which many consider being the most sweeping changes to the style of formula one cars since the 1980s. The RB18 is Red Bull chief technical officer Adrian Newey's first expression of these new "ground effect" based rules. The car was launched at a virtual event at the Milton Keynes headquarters. At the event, Red Bull also announced tech giant Oracle as its new title sponsor in a deal that many reports have suggested is worth a whopping $500 million over five years. 

The car features a brand new livery which not only has Oracle branding but also very subtle Honda Racing Corporation branding as Honda continues to be involved in delivering the power unit to the British Austrian team but now doesn't get naming rights. But on the whole, the car which will be anointed with Verstappen's number 1, was showcased with many shadows which elude to Red Bull hiding many of the technical secrets. It so far looks more like just a slight upgrade from the 2022 concept show car that Liberty Media had shown off and compared to the Haas looks like a very bland car. 

This is the first glimpse at the car which Max Verstappen will use to defend his world title

Also Read: Haas becomes first constructor to show 2022 F1 car

Of course, Red Bull boss Christian Horner has admitted that the car will evolve from now to pre-season testing and also eventually the first race of the season which is on March 20, 2022. 

"The big unknown is have we missed something with these regulations and has someone else stolen a march? It's a clean sheet of paper for every single team. By the time we get to the first race, the RB18 won't look much like it looks today, the evolution will be very quick as we progress through the season. It is a steep learning curve for everyone and it is a contest in development between the first and the last race," he admitted. 

The car will also feature a new engine which will comprise a 10 percent E10 ethanol-based biofuel. Honda had been working on adapting its 2021 engine for this new regulation which all the engine manufacturers have admitted is a huge change to the engine block. Many have assumed that it will reduce the overall power of the engine. In 2021, Verstappen was able to challenge for the world title largely because of the engine gains Honda made.

But now that Honda is just largely servicing the engine till Red Bull can make its own engine, questions remain on how much the power unit has evolved considering, Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault all have been hard at work developing new engines ahead of an engine development freeze that starts before the first race of the season lasting up till the end of 2025 when a new engine formula kicks in.