Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko reveals that, upon its initial launch, the RB18 will not quite be the finished product.
Red Bull are set to reveal the car they hope can spur Max Verstappen to his second consecutive world title on 9 February, but the Austrian reveals that the Milton Keynes-based outfit will be keeping their cards close to their chest.
“The presentation, which is important for fans and sponsors, does not show any special details on the car,” he said in conversation with Sport1.
“The new car will only be ready shortly before the start of testing in Barcelona on 23 February.”
Further, the team that won 11 races in 2021 will be upgrading their car as we approach the first race of the season in Bahrain on 20 March – eight days after the culmination of the second pre-season test at the Sakhir International Circuit.
“From then on it will be further developed and will receive another update for the first race of the season on 20 March in Bahrain.”
The technical regulations in Formula 1 have dramatically changed ahead of the 2022 season, with aerodynamic alterations seeing the return of ground effect.
The Austrian is satisfied that the team could complete work on last year’s challenger given how sparse the changes were from 2020, but he now reckons that every team will be leaving upgrades until the eleventh hour to avoid rivals casting an eye on their work.
“The rules stayed the same last year, so we decided to have the car ready very early for the 2021 season,” he said.
“At the time, this decision proved to be the right one, but now, it’s exactly the opposite. With the new rules, everyone wants to be finished as late as possible – also so as not to show everything too early.”
Red Bull will retain their driver line-up of Verstappen and Sergio Perez in 2022, after the Mexican claimed five podiums and a race win during a satisfactory debut season with the team last year.