The RB5 was designed by Adrian Newey, who argued that there won't be many teams challenging for race wins in 2009. Nevertheless, with the new rule changes ahead of the 2009 season, Horner believes Red Bull are entitled to think race wins this year.
“2009 will also see us benefit from greater stability in terms of how we run the operation, with all our key players in the technical group having been with us for at least two years. We should not forget they designed a car that won a grand prix in 2008, in the hands of Sebastian Vettel and Scuderia Toro Rosso,” said Horner at the unveiling of the RB5.
“There is no reason to believe we cannot do that again with these new rules. The regulation changes almost constitute a new formula for the sport and it will be interesting to see how the teams interpret them. Certainly in the early part of this season we expect to see a much bigger spread in terms of performance between the teams than we have over the past two years,” added the RBR manager.
As compared to the other 2009 challengers, the new RB5 has a slimmer nose and will feature an improved engine for the new season (as a consequence of the team using Renault engines in 2009). RBR are yet to announce whether they will use Renault's Kinetic Energy Recovery System at Melbourne or not.
The RB5 will make its on-track debut from as early as today, at the Jerez circuit. Vettel is scheduled to test it today and tomorrow, while Webber is scheduled to try out the new car on Wednesday.
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