Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRed Bull Racing

Red Bull launches RB12 ahead of start of testing

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Red Bull has released the first images of the RB12 ahead of the start of pre-season testing in Barcelona.

The new car was launched online 90 minutes before the first day of testing gets underway, featuring the team's new livery which was unveiled in London last week. Featuring another short nose design, the car will be powered by a Tag Heuer-branded Renault power unit.

GALLERY: Red Bull RB12

Team principal Christian Horner admits Red Bull is on the back foot after uncertainty of its power unit supply in 2015 but hopes to see the team moving forward after a winless season.

"Obviously the late engine decision last year was a challenge but we found a solution in time and the whole team has worked incredibly hard to recover over the winter," Horner said. "Therefore, we're looking to build on the significant progress we made in the second half of 2015 and to carry that momentum into the early races of this season.

"My hopes for this season are that we genuinely make progress from where we were last year; that we get our heads down and we really develop the car well and hopefully with some performance coming on the power unit side as well that will allow us to get closer to some of our immediate rivals."

Follow live coverage and timing from pre-season testing here

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.