Month: February 2021

This is the new Red Bull Racing RB16B from the Milton Keynes-based squad.

The RB16B is an evolution of the last season’s RB16, with team boss Christian Horner explaining at the end of last year that there would be a carryover of around 60 percent of the 2021 challenger.

The team hopes, however, that the lessons it learned from last season, when drivers Max Verstappen and Alex Albon struggled at times with a tricky balance, have been taken on board and it can prove to be stronger against Mercedes. It has targeted making the RB16B more consistent across different types of tracks.

Red Bull Racing’s hopes of being able to fight harder against Mercedes will also rest on the work that engine supplier Honda has done with its new Formula 1 engine, ahead of the Japanese manufacturer’s last season in the sport.

Horner said that Red Bull was well aware of where it needed to improve, and that progress on both the chassis and engine front would prove beneficial.

“I wouldn’t say the [problems] were exclusive to aero,” Horner said about the difficulties of last year. “These things always work in tandem. But I think that we made good progress through 2020 and we’ll see whether RB16B has its challenges from the regulation changes, but that’s obviously the same for all teams.

“Hopefully, with a lot of good lessons that we learned last year, we’ll manage to apply those into the updated car.”

Red Bull is heading in to 2021 with a new driver line-up, after Albon was demoted to the role of reserve and test driver at the end of last season.

That came with Red Bull electing to sign Sergio Perez as Verstappen’s teammate, off the back of an impressive campaign that the Mexican delivered for Racing Point in 2020.

Red Bull thinks that the addition of Perez will be vital if it is to disrupt Mercedes and prevent the German car manufacturer from taking an eighth consecutive Formula 1 title double.

Honda’s final season in Formula 1 this year will be followed by Red Bull taking over the engine project itself and running the power units from 2022 under its own name.

Work is already underway at Red Bull’s Milton Keynes campus to ramp up its powertrain facilities in readiness for the new challenge.

This is the Alfa Romeo’s new C41 Formula 1 racing car, which was unveiled in a launch event at Warsaw, Poland.

Featuring a revised livery that has inverted the colours from last season’s car, in particular the engine cover as this is in white with the logo in red. Title sponsor PKN Orlen makes an appearance on the red sidepods.

The C41 will make its on-track debut in a shakedown at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya before enjoying its first extended run-out in pre-season testing in Bahrain.

“The launch of a new car is always an emotional moment, the culmination of months of effort from everyone back at the factory and the start of a new adventure,” said team principal Frederic Vasseur.

“I think the philosophy upon which the team is based remains the same – we have to do a better job tomorrow than we are doing today. We finished last season in P8, so we have to target a better result in 2021. To do so, we have to keep improving in each department, trackside and back at HQ.

“Every team on the grid has very high expectations right now: all the teams expect to do a good job in the winter and to be in a good position for the first race, but soon it will be the time for everyone to show their cards.”

Alfa Romeo enters the 2021 season looking to bounce back from a disappointing campaign last year that mainly saw it fighting with Haas and Williams in the ‘Class C’ division.

Although the team was able to match its finish of eighth position in the constructors’ championship from 2019, its points tally was disappointing as Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi only collected eight points, recording a race finish of no higher than ninth.

Alfa Romeo was limited by the poor performance of Ferrari’s power units throughout last year, but the Italian marque hopes to have resolved the issues ahead of the 2021 season.

It is anticipated that Sauber Motorsport – which operates the Alfa Romeo Formula 1 squad out of Switzerland – is expected to extend its partnership with Ferrari until 2025. The current deal expires at the end of this season.

Alfa Romeo opted to retain both Raikkonen and Giovinazzi for 2021, marking their third year racing together.

The duo will be joined by reserve driver Robert Kubica once again as the team retains title sponsorship from Polish firm PKN Orlen, prompting this season’s unveiling to take place.

Scuderia AlphaTauri become the the second Formula 1 outfit to revealed their Honda-powered race car for the upcoming season.

After a successful 2020 season in which Pierre Gasly returned to the Faenza-based team to the top step of the podium by winning the Italian Grand Prix.

Gasly is staying on for this year, but will have a new teammate as Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda is stepping up from Formula 2 as replacement for Daniil Kvyat.

The AT02 is an evolution of last year’s car, but the team has made a big aerodynamic push to try to find improvements as it has also been forced to respond to regulations changes in the floor and brake duct area.

Technical director Jody Egginton has said that although the chassis is a carryover from last year, the overall package has undergone a lot of improvement.

“The work which has been undertaken to develop our car for 2021 goes far beyond compliance with regulation changes,” he said.

“It has involved changes to nearly all aero surfaces and also development and repackaging large parts of the car, which are hidden, in order to achieve these changes.

“We have spent a lot of time working to recover the aero losses as a result of the regulation changes, while also focusing on increasing and improving the car’s aerodynamic operating window.

“This activity will continue into the season, with the split of resource between the 2021 and 2022 projects reviewed and adjusted as required to maximise the potential of both projects.”

Although Formula 1’s rules allowed AlphaTauri to upgrade its suspension to Red Bull’s 2020 specification, the team decided to keep with the version it ran last season.

It has however used two development tokens for a new nose, and has redesigned the outboard front suspension – which has triggered some updating of steering components to those used by Red Bull Racing last year.

AlphaTauri is sticking with Honda engines for the Japanese car manufacturer’s final season in the sport, and will then move to Red Bull power units like its sister team from 2022.

The dark livery looks fantastic and best wishes to the AlphaTauri in achieving the highs like Pierre Gasly’s incredible win at Monza.

McLaren Racing becomes the first Formula 1 team to unveil their 2021 race car for this season, with the MCL35M.

The overall look is similar to last season’s chassis, but new for 2021 will be the Mercedes power unit. In addition, Daniel Ricciardo has joined the team following the news that Carlos Sainz, Jr is now racing for Ferrari.

The new MCL35M car retains largely the same livery as last year as McLaren sticks with its usual papaya orange and blue design, though some subtle changes such as shifting the rainbow scheme previously on the halo to the rear of the car.

A new partnership with Mercedes with McLaren is reflected in the car name, adding the ‘M’ designation to last year’s MCL35, but there is no Mercedes branding on the car due to the nature of their customer agreement.

Despite the freeze in the technical regulations between 2020 and 2021, McLaren has been forced to make a sizeable number of changes to its new car in order to accommodate the new Mercedes power unit, as well as accounting for the downforce cuts enforced by the updated regulations.

The team has spent its two permitted development tokens on the rear of the car, but remains confident of fighting for third place in the constructors’ championship once again.

“All of us at McLaren are ready and determined for another season of intensely competitive Formula 1 racing,” said team principal Andreas Seidl.

“The entire team has worked hard over the short winter, together with our colleagues from Mercedes-AMG, to produce the MCL35M and provide a strong car for our drivers to race this year.

“This has been no small challenge, and I want to thank every member of our team, whether at the MTC or working remotely, for the massive effort they’ve put in. Lando and Daniel will, I know, do their very best to represent the team out on track.”

McLaren enjoyed its best season since 2012 last year as Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz both scored podiums, leading the team to third in the teams’ standings behind only Mercedes and Red Bull.

Following Sainz’s move to Ferrari, seven-time Grand Prix winner Ricciardo has arrived on a three-year deal from Renault, bringing 10 seasons’ worth of experience to McLaren.

“It’s great to have finally joined the team after what feels like an age since we confirmed it last May, said Ricciardo.

“I’m thrilled to be a McLaren driver and super-keen to get started. McLaren has been on an awesome journey over the last few years, and I’m looking forward to helping the team maintain this positive momentum.

“I’ve been spending the last few weeks here in the UK getting fully integrated into the team so that we’re as prepared as possible for the start of the season.

“I’m feeling excited and motivated to give it my absolute all. I think my determination to perform has only grown as I’ve gained more experience and I’m looking forward to getting this next chapter in my career started.”

2021 heralds a reunion of McLaren and Mercedes, who were previously works partners between 1995 and 2009 before the formation of Mercedes’ own team for the 2010 season. McLaren continued as a Mercedes customer until the end of 2014, when it switched to Honda.

McLaren-Mercedes won three drivers’ championships and one constructors’ title in their 20-season spell together, as well as recording the most recent McLaren victory at the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix.

The new McLaren MCL35M will get its first on-track outing at Silverstone when the team holds a filming day, acting as a shakedown for the new car.

It will then enjoy its first extended run-out at the start of pre-season testing in Bahrain next month, which runs from 12-14 March.

The opening round of the 2021 season then takes place on 28 March in Bahrain.