The RB3 has been started for the first time (with no reported problems) at the Red Bull Racing factory in Milton Keynes and Mark Webber has commented on just how different the RB3 is to anything Red Bull has produced before; with only a single podium to the teams name this is obviously a good sign. So far no pictures have been leaked but the car is due for an initial on-track shakedown run on the 24th (next Wednesday) so hopefully something will come out from that.

The unveiling of the car to the media is still scheduled for the 26th, one week from now, at Barcelona.

I’ve added another couple of full races to the downloads page; Spa 1995 and Sepang 1999. Two epic and controversial races. Spa ‘95 is a showcase of driving in conditions that your tyres aren’t suited to and Malaysia ‘99 is one of the more strategic races we’ve seen in the recent history of F1. Both are exciting and well worth grabbing for your collection.

I should also add I may have to take the videos down for a couple of days at the end of the month after an unprecedented week of traffic. It should only be a couple of days and I’m looking into changing the situation if I can afford it!

While the recent remarks by the conservative Adrian Newey have perhaps bought some of Mark Webber’s fans down to earth, Webber remains upbeat about the 2007 season expecting podiums from the Red Bull oufit.

“Yes, it will be disappointing if we’re not on podiums, that’s pretty clear. Looking at the performance we’re going to be expecting from this car, we hope to be in the hunt.”

“We are expecting to do very well but so is everyone and until all the cars line up in Melbourne on Saturday, when everyone gets serious in qualifying, that’s really the first time that we’ll see whatever I’ve got,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to getting the results that we all want this year and the excuses aren’t good for anyone.”

Webber has been forced to retire from 36 races in his career and believes the switch to RBR will turn around his fortunes.

“It is bloody exciting to see what’s going to come out,” Webber said. “The car is obviously just so different from the Red Bull cars in the past and you’d expect it to be, but there’s obviously the Renault engine which was a great coup for us.”

January 30th and then the Australian GP will give a clearer indication…

In the last two years much has been made of Red Bull Racing and the way they go about their business, how they’ve brought new life to the paddock with their easy-go-lucky style. The team has adopted a laid back approach in an attempt to win over the younger F1 viewing audience and sell more cans of their energy drink in the same way Toyota F1 remain a serious corporate entity in an effort to sell medium sized family cars.

On a deeper level Red Bull has shown it is willing to do what is needed to get to the front of the grid, and while many initially believed the team wouldn’t be serious about its Formula One adventure a strong 2005 season and aggressive engineer poaching strategy in 2006 left none in doubt that Red Bull Racing is in this sport to win.

So on one hand the team is displaying a vibrant youthful facade while behind closed doors it is gathering the best and brightest minds in an attempt to be number one. This Googlesque outlook may be set to change though, could Red Bull Racing be planning to turn itself around?

Rumours of an overhaul of the teams image have been doing the rounds recently and with the dropping of the young Austrian Christian Klien it’s a sign that Red Bull Racing may be changing the way it runs its primary F1 operation. It would be an interesting strategy if it turns out to be true, and I think a positive one. While I don’t think the team will be turning into McLaren any time soon I believe it would be a waste of time and energy to try and make the team appear as something it’s not. With veterans David Coulthard and Mark Webber being the stars of the team it could be worthwhile reshaping the team in their image for the time being; Serious, hard working guys who want to win. They’re not adverse to fun and are very open with the press, walking-talking corporate press releases they are not, however forcing them to become “cool” wouldn’t be an appropriate move considering their ages and personalities.

Red Bull is lucky to also own 50% of Scuderia Torro Rosso, who with Scott Speed and Tonio Liuzzi most probably filling the team again in 2007 they have an avenue to attack the younger F1 market while focusing on the main business of winning with their #1 team.

PR aside, Red Bull Racing will very likely be offering the F1 world a technical blast of fresh air in the next 10 days as they launch the RB3. The lack of rule changes has left most of the top teams settling on a design evolution path in 2007, most of the “new” cars look very similar to their 2006 challengers. It’s very safe to assume the RB3 will look nothing like its predecessor and that could just be what the F1 world needs in what has so far been a dull launch season. It’s an image change I am most looking forward to.

Hello everybody, just another post to mention that another two full races have been added to the downloads page; Australia 2001 and Brazil 2006. Both entertaining races, Aus ‘01 has a sad twist in it unfortunately but Brazil ‘06 is a real feel good race; something in it for the fans of most drivers. I’ve made a slight mod to the downloads page, you can now see next to the language the running time in minutes of each video. Enjoy!

Keeping with the current launching theme I’ve opened another section of this website, the Hi-Res Gallery (link on the left). I can’t stress enough the fact that these images are still copyrighted to GEPA Pictures GmbH, they are for your personal use only. I’ve added a small bit of text to each image to highlight this fact, if you are in need of one of the pictures in naked form then contact me via e-mail (adress is at the bottom of this main page) or on the forums and I’ll consider your request on an individual basis.

The gallery is not a replacement for the wallpaper page, the images in the gallery are of differing sizes and quality and there is only a single version of each; the wallpaper area will remain as I quite like having large high quality shots of each of Marks F1 cars. However, I probably won’t update it that often now - in the gallery however I plan to add a few pictures after the RB3 launch and after each race. You can ofcourse save the images and resize them into a backround friendly resolution for your home desktop.

Okay, enough of me being a Nazi (as fun as it is), I do want to thank the Red Bull Racing PR and web design teams in the UK, as well as the friendly folks at Red Bull Creative in Austria for their assistance and making this addition possible and pain free. Enjoy the pictures everyone.