The Aston Martin Red Bull Racing RB16 made its track debut at the Silverstone Circuit today, one week ahead of pre-season testing in Barcelona.A crisp but cold Silverstone provided the venue for the RB16âs first appearance in front of the cameras. Running in full 2020 race livery on the 2.638km National Circuit, Max Verstappen completed a series of planned runs with the Teamâs 2020 charger during an official filming day.
Pleased with the dayâs running, Max commented: âThe important thing today is getting the car running so that everything is up to speed before we get to Barcelona. Itâs been a while since I was in a Formula One car and I was really looking forward to this morning. Once you fire up, youâre straight back into it, but before then, thereâs always a sense of anticipation about what the new car and engine will feel like. Today everything went smoothly and Iâm looking forward to testing next week. The target for the whole Team is of course to be in a position to fight for the championship and improve on last year. The Team is very motivated and everyone worked very hard over the winter and I think we are in a good way. I canât wait to get started and hopefully we can be competitive from the start and then I think it can be a really interesting and fun year.â
Eagerly watching from the garage, teammate Alex Albon was pleased to get 2020 underway. âWeâve had a good winter, lots of chilling out but also a lot of training and time in the simulator, so itâs good to finally see the end result here on track. Itâs important to be here and get the initial feedback first-hand from Max and the rest of the Team. Everything seems to be looking good for Barcelona. Obviously, itâs a filming day but itâs still exciting â and Iâm really looking forward to driving the car once winter testing begins.â
Straight down to business and on a charge in the Teamâs true colours, the RB16 broke cover in its full 2020 race livery. With stable technical regulations carried over from 2019, the car is very much a refinement and evolution of its predecessor. Team Principal, Christian Horner said âWe had a great debut season with Honda and the partnership has gone from strength to strength. Itâs been a really positive winter, and the effort thatâs gone in behind the scenes has been truly impressive. Further steps have been made on both the power unit and the chassis side, and the integration of the power unit fully into the car is a work of art. Itâs nice to see the RB16 out on track for the first time today in what is now an iconic livery.â
The Team now has a few days to prepare before the first of two three-day tests begin next Wednesday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
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