Red Bull reveals RB13

Red Bull has kicked off a day of launches with the unveiling of its 2017 car, named the RB13. Rather than a traditional media launch, the car debuted via a short video posted on social media:

The RB13 features an unusual nose solution, with a slot at the tip of a flat section right at the end of the nose. There is also a shark fin as seen on the majority of new cars this week, and a slight step in the nose at the front of the chassis.

The RB13 will be powered by the new Renault power unit – badged as a TAG Heuer due to a sponsorship deal – and Red Bull reveals the 2017 engine has a power output of 900 hp in its specification. Mercedes, by contrast, announced it was producing more than 900 hp with its power unit at the start of last year.

Team principal Christian Horner said before the car's unveiling that the RB13 is "one of the prettiest cars" Red Bull has produced, and urged the team to focus on its own testing program rather than looking at its rivals too much this year.

"I think RB13 is one of the prettiest cars that we've designed and made because the geometry of the car under these new regulations and proportions looks right," Horner said. It looks mean, it looks fast. There's the old adage that 'if it looks right it tends to go all right,' and this car for sure looks right.

"It's always an anxious moment before the car runs for the first time, for it to drive out of the garage, down the pit lane, the first thing you want to see is that it comes back at the end of the lap! It's an exciting moment to see the car break cover.

"Of course testing, people get sucked into 'who is doing what times, which fuel loads, who is doing what race runs, etc.' It's all irrelevant in reality. You've got to focus on your own program, put the blinkers on, get through your program of work and the developments that you want to look at, because it's all going to change by the time you get to Melbourne anyway. So it's interesting to see the buzz and the tension that surrounds those tests but we've become pretty good here over the past few winters of just focusing on ourselves and our own program."

This year's aerodynamic regulations are seen as a big opportunity for Red Bull – led by design guru Adrian Newey – to further close the gap to Mercedes having emerged as its nearest challenger in 2016. The team will field an unchanged driver line-up of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen this season.