Now for the car that's probably been the most eagerly awaited, the Adrian Newey-designed RB3.

I admire Newey, if for no other reason than he's probably the only car designer to actually use a drafting table. It's certainly more 'swoopy' than last year's RB2, particularly in the sidepods, but that's a Newey trademark. Amazingly, RedBull has the best wind-tunnel in the sport, so one would expect it to be cutting edge in the aerodynamic areas. Throw in the Renault-built engine, and the RB3 should be a substantial improvement over last year's car. Indeed, the leap should be quite large, from 'best of the backmarkers' to, perhaps, high mid-pack... certainly the equal of Williams, perhaps as good as BMW-Sauber, and at the outside, Honda-level?

The front drop in the wing seems lower than the Honda's, and better curved to boot. Unlike the McLaren, the air intakes seem LARGER than last year's car... which makes sense, actually, considering the overheating problems they had.

That rear wing sidepanel is quite interestingly shaped. It must be for aerodynamic reasons, but those cutouts at the back of the panel are... odd. The front wing sidepanels have that mini-winglet (now THAT'S small!) that's become all the rage in F1 circles. Note that the air intake 'hump' is even more brutally shaped than the gargantuan thing on the McLaren. More aerodynamics, or more cooling?

Alas, there weren't any studio shots taken; it was a low-key rollout, really.

In contrast to that, though, was the Renault debut a few days ago. Now that a little time has passed, I've been able to dig up better photos of the R27, and for comparison, similar shots of the R26. I'll be posting that on Saturday, so wait with bated breath until then!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 05:29 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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