Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRed Bull Racing

Red Bull admits RB11 not ready yet

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Christian Horner admits the Red Bull RB11 is not ready yet but should be able to run at the first test in Jerez on Sunday.

Red Bull is aiming to close the gap to Mercedes in 2015 after winning three races last season, but has undergone a winter of evolution as Sebastian Vettel joins Ferrari – with Daniil Kvyat replacing him – and Adrian Newey scaling down his F1 commitments. Speaking ahead of the start of pre-season testing, Horner concedes the new car has yet to be fully assembled but he expects the team to be ready for the opening day of the first test.

Asked if the new car is ready, Horner replied: “Not yet.

“The car’s flat out in to car build at the moment. So probably the shortest production and assembly time in our previous ten seasons. It’s unbelievable what the factory have turned around so far. So still plenty to do before Sunday.”

And Horner is confident the first test this year will be more productive than in 2014 when Red Bull managed just 21 laps over the four days of testing in Jerez.

“Certainly the first test last year … hopefully this one can’t be any worse than that. I think we managed about four laps over four days and the car would either stop on track or set on fire! So hopefully we’ve made progress from that point. I think it’s been a far more positive winter compared to last year. We know where the benchmark is and what we need to achieve.

“As the team continues to evolve and grow it’s been I think the most impressive winter we’ve had as a team in terms of everything coming together, the car being produced in the shortest time ever, design hitting all their deadlines and targets so from that perspective it’s certainly been a positive winter.”

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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.