2007 Season Preview (Red Bull)

[davewilson]

From drivers to technical staff, Red Bull are probably the team who have the most promise for dramatic improvements ahead of the beginning of 2007. But do they really have a chance of winning a race, or even securing a podium or two between Australian and Brazil? We find out what Red Bull are capable of in 2007...

The Team
Despite remaining almost unchanged since last year, Red Bull's team personnel looks, on paper, to be one of the strongest and experienced on the grid. Thanks to the great increase in funds from the Red Bull corporation, major names like Adrian Newey, Ben Agathangelou, Peter Prodromou and Rob Marshall have been drafted in, all with race and even championship victories under their belts. This vast experience will prove to be priceless to both the team as a whole and their respective departments. Although Toyota have shown that money can be squandered on achieving nothing in F1, Red Bull look to have gone about it in a better way, hiring the staff that they know, have and will produce the goods.

The Drivers
After years with an under-strength driver line-up, Red Bull's duo of David Coulthard and Mark Webber, can finally be described with the words experience and speed. While Red Bull's previous policy of recruiting young and up-and-coming drivers, with them fielding the oldest driver line-up on the grid in 2007, results shouldn't be too hard to come by, once the basis of a good team and car are present.

Coulthard is a proven race winner, although with him being years out of a competitive race seat, many question his ability to win races in the future. Mark Webber, however, is at the other end of the spectrum. Starting off with Minardi in 2001, most probably the highlight of his career so far, before moving onto Jaguar in 2002 and Williams for 2005, the Aussie has yet to secure that much longed and deserved race victory. Due to this inexperience, of sorts, with winning races, major questions have been asked regarding his ultimate race pace, and Webber will be wanting to prove critics wrong over the next seven months. His qualifying pace, however, remains extremely competitive.

The Car
Like last year's RB2, the RB3 has started life with very unconvincing results. Following on from the cooling problems encountered in 2006, this year's car is struggling to make proper use of its tyres, with tyres looking almost new even after being bolted onto the car for a long run. This in turn is providing much less mechanical grip, thus reducing cornering speed and ultimate performance. Reports suggest, however, that these problems have been ironed out to some point, with further improvements expected as the year progresses.

Testing Form
Given the problems experienced with the RB3, Red Bull's testing pace has been nothing short of dismal during the winter months. Discounting Coulthard's banzai lap on the final day of the Barcelona test mid-February, a Red Bull has finished inside the top ten only three times - one ninth and two eighth places. In the driver-vs-driver battle, Coulthard currently wins the battle nine to four, with both drivers clocking up a total of 4000 km each. The fact that both drivers have completed all of the RB3's testing work will bear fruits during the opening phase of the season, given the vast knowledge of the car.

Overall
Unfortunately for Red Bull, it looks as though they will have to wait another year to achieve that illustrious race victory. While Coulthard and Webber are solid drivers, points finishes may be tough to come by in the early part of the season, but with further developments arriving on the car as the year progresses, the RB3 may be inside the top eight often enough.

In Brief
Expect a drop in the constructors' standings from 2006, with Williams likely to overtake the Austrian side.

The stig