Red Bull will reveal its 2018 car on February 19.
The team confirmed the news on its official Twitter account, although the announcement gave little away other than the name of the car -- the RB14 -- and the date.
— Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) February 12, 2018
The date of the launch appears to confirm a change in mindset Red Bull hinted at last year around pre-season and car development. Traditionally Red Bull has been one of the last to reveal its car for an upcoming season in order to maximise development time on the car, but this will make it the second team -- after Williams on February 15 -- to unveil its 2018 model.
Last year the team followed its old approach but lost valuable time in winter testing due to a correlation issue with its windtunnel. That issue was complicated by the fact it launched the car so close to testing, meaning the team did not have enough time to rectify the issues before testing started.Team boss Christian Horner said that had cost the team around two months compared to main rivals Mercedes and Ferrari.
F1's pre-season tests begin on Feburary 26 at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Confirmed team launches:
February 15 - Williams
February 19 - Red Bull
February 20 - Sauber
February 20 - Renault
February 22 - Ferrari, Mercedes
February 23 - McLaren
February 26 - Toro Rosso