Red Bull Racing RB14
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The Red Bull Racing RB14 was a
Formula One racing car A Formula One car (also known as an F1 car) is a single-seat, open-cockpit, open-wheel formula racing car with substantial front and rear wings, and an engine positioned behind the driver, intended to be used in competition at Formul ...
designed and constructed by Red Bull Racing to compete during the
2018 FIA Formula One World Championship The 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship was the motor racing championship for Formula One cars and the 69th running of the Formula One World Championship. Formula One is recognised by the governing body of international motorsport, the FÃ ...
. The car was driven by Daniel Ricciardo and
Max Verstappen Max Emilian Verstappen (; born 30 September 1997) is a Belgian-Dutch Auto racing, racing driver and the 2021 Formula One World Championship, 2021 and 2022 Formula One World Championship, 2022 Formula One World Champion. He Formula One drivers ...
, and made its competitive début at the
2018 Australian Grand Prix The 2018 Australian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 2018 Rolex Australian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 25 March 2018 in Melbourne, Victoria. The race was contested at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit and was the ...
. Like its predecessors the RB12 and RB13, the RB14 used a Renault engine badged as a TAG Heuer. The RB14 was the last car built by Red Bull Racing to use customer Renault engines as the team switched to Honda power in and the last Red Bull car Daniel Ricciardo drove before moving to Renault in 2019.


Design and development

Following difficult pre-season tests in and in which the team attended the first tests with older-model cars, Red Bull announced that they would launch the RB14 earlier in the year than they had with the RB12 and RB13. Where previous cars had been delayed to allow the team more time to develop the chassis in their factory, the team brought the launch of the RB14 forward to gather more on-track data. Team principal Christian Horner justified the decision by revealing that analysis of the team's performances in 2016 and 2017 showed that while the chassis were competitive by the end of the season, the decision to delay their respective launches had resulted in an uncompetitive car at the start of the championship. The RB14 made its public début in February. Daniel Ricciardo completed a
shakedown Shakedown may refer to: * Shakedown (continuum mechanics), a type of plastic deformation * Shakedown (testing) or a shakedown cruise, a period of testing undergone by a ship, airplane or other craft before being declared operational * Extortion, ...
of the car at the
Silverstone Circuit Silverstone Circuit is a motor racing circuit in England, near the Northamptonshire villages of Towcester, Silverstone and Whittlebury. It is the home of the British Grand Prix, which it first hosted as the 1948 British Grand Prix. The 1950 ...
one week before pre-season testing began.


Livery

Ricciardo and Verstappen competed United States Grand Prix wearing special cowboy styled race suits as a special tribute to Austin and Texas.


Competition history


Opening rounds

At the opening round in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, the car proved to be the third fastest, behind
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and
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. Ricciardo and Verstappen qualified fourth and fifth respectively. Verstappen was seven tenths off pole and Ricciardo nearly a second. Ricciardo received a three-place grid penalty which meant he started 8th. In the race, Verstappen was passed by Kevin Magnussen on the opening lap, while Ricciardo worked his way up on the grid. Verstappen came under pressure from the cars behind him, and as a result spun, dropping him down to P8, while Ricciardo passed him to inherit sixth. The retirement of the Haas cars ahead of them elevated them both two positions. This brought out the safety car, and for the remainder of the race, Ricciardo hounded Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkönen for the final podium place but was unsuccessful and finished in P4. Meanwhile, Verstappen chased
McLaren McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
driver
Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing for Alpine in Formula One. He won the series' World Drivers' Championship in and with Renault, and has also driven for McLaren, Ferrari, and Mi ...
for fifth place but Alonso managed to hold him off meaning Verstappen finished in sixth place. The
Bahrain Grand Prix The Bahrain Grand Prix ( ar, جائزة البحرين الكبرى), officially known as the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix for sponsorship reasons, is a Formula One motor racing event in Bahrain. The first race took place at the Bahrain Internat ...
proved to be a disaster, with Verstappen starting fifteenth after a crash in Q1, and Ricciardo qualified fifth, this time four tenths off pole. At the start of the race, Ricciardo was overtaken by Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly but regained the position at turn 4. Verstappen made great progress in the opening lap. Max Verstappen made contact with Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who had fallen to tenth place. This punctured his left-rear tyre. Ricciardo experienced an electrical shutdown, forcing him to retire. Subsequently, Verstappen also lost drive. This meant a double DNF for Red Bull. This was also the fourth time in five races that Ricciardo had a DNF. In the Chinese Grand Prix, Red Bull locked out the third row of the grid. In the race, Verstappen managed to overtake Hamilton for fourth, and then Raikonnen a few corners later. This put him in third. As a result of the two cars of Toro Rosso crashing on lap 30, a safety car was brought out. This played very well into the hands of Red Bull, who used the opportunity to pit both cars during the safety car period. Owing to fresher tyres, both Ricciardo and Verstappen began to catch up with the race leaders. On lap 39 Verstappen ran wide trying to overtake Hamilton, losing a position to Ricciardo, who had just overtaken Raikonnen. Both Red Bulls overtook Hamilton. Ricciardo overtook
Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel (; born 3 July 1987) is a German racing driver who competed in Formula One from 2007 to 2022 for BMW Sauber, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Toro Rosso, Red Bull Racing, Red Bull, Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari, and Aston Martin in Formula One ...
for second place. On lap 43, Verstappen collided with Vettel, resulting in him getting a 10-second penalty. On lap 45, Ricciardo overtook Valtteri Bottas for the lead, and stayed in that position to win the race. Verstappen finished fourth, but dropped back into fifth owing to the penalty. The
Azerbaijan Grand Prix The Azerbaijan Grand Prix ( az, Azərbaycan Qran Prisi) is a Formula One motor racing event that was held for the first time in . It is held on the Baku City Circuit, a street circuit in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The event is due to take ...
would prove yet to be another disaster. Despite Ricciardo qualifying 4th and Verstappen 5th, Verstappen reported early issues with his engine battery deployment after the lap 6 safety car restart following the first lap crash. However, the pace of the RB14 allowed both drivers to filter through the field after the first round of pitstops back to 4th and 5th, where the two would continue to duel each other and race closely until their own pitstops on lap 35. The main disaster occurred on lap 40. Verstappen, who had just passed Ricciardo due to an overcut during the pitstop, made an extremely late defensive move to the left side of the track to cover an attempted dummy overtake by Ricciardo, which caused a collision between the pair. Both cars were forced to retire and scored no points.


Mid-season


Complete Formula One results

(
key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...
) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) Driver failed to finish the race, but was classified as they had completed over 90% of the race distance.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Red Bull RB14 Red Bull Formula One cars 2018 Formula One season cars