Red Bull RB12

Red Bull RB12

The Red Bull RB12, driven by Max Verstappen, during the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix.
Category	Formula One
Constructor	Red Bull
Predecessor	Red Bull RB11
Technical specifications
Chassis	Carbon-fibre composite survival cell
Engine	Renault (re-badged as TAG Heuer) 1.6 L (98 cu in) direct injection V6 turbocharged engine, limited to 15,000 rpm in a mid-mounted, rear-wheel drive layout
Electric motor	Kinetic and thermal energy recovery systems
Transmission	Sequential shift gearbox with eight forward and one reverse gears
Battery	Lithium-ion batteries
Fuel	Total
Brakes	Carbon discs with steel calipers
Tyres	Pirelli P Zero (dry) tyres Pirelli Cinturato (wet) tyres
Competition history
Notable entrants	Red Bull Racing
Notable drivers	3. Daniel Ricciardo 26. Daniil Kvyat 33. Max Verstappen
Debut	2016 Australian Grand Prix
Races Wins Podiums Poles F.Laps 21 2 16 1 5

The Red Bull RB12 is a Formula One racing car designed by Red Bull Racing to compete in the 2016 Formula One season. The car is being driven by Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen. Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Verstappen was promoted to Red Bull after swapping places with Daniil Kvyat ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.^[1] The car uses a Renault engine re-badged as a TAG Heuer following the breakdown in the relationship between Red Bull and Renault in 2015.

Competition history

Daniel Ricciardo at the 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix

In the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, both Kvyat and Ricciardo performed well in all three practice sessions. In qualifying, Kvyat qualified a disappointing 18th following mechanical problems with his car, and Ricciardo went on to qualify 8th. In the race, Kvyat failed to start the race due to an electrical problem, meanwhile Ricciardo set the fastest lap and went on to finish the race in fourth.

In the Bahrain Grand Prix, under the short lived knock out style qualification format,^[2] Kvyat was the first to be knocked out of Q2, thus starting in 15th. Ricciardo made it to Q3 and qualified in 5th, almost one and a half seconds behind pole sitter Lewis Hamilton. During the race, Kvyat had contact with Nico Hülkenberg on the first lap but was able to finish 7th, one lap behind winner Nico Rosberg. Ricciardo finished 4th, over a minute behind Rosberg.

In the Chinese Grand Prix, after a return to the normal qualifying format, Ricciardo and Kvyat qualified 2nd and 6th respectively. During the race, Ricciardo charged off the line to take the lead of the race from Rosberg. Kvyat charged up the inside of Sebastian Vettel in turn one, causing him to collide with Ferrari teammate Kimi Räikkönen. Ricciardo kept the lead until his left-rear tyre failed during lap 3 on the long straight between turns 13 and 14. Kvyat climbed his way to a 3rd-place finish, while Ricciardo had a great recovery drive to secure 4th.^[3]

While in Q2 of the Russian Grand Prix, Ricciardo's wing mirror came free of its mount, and appeared to be held on by wiring alone. The mirror bounced into and out of the cockpit, causing quite a bit of distraction. Regardless of the distraction, Ricciardo moved onto Q3 and qualified 6th, but was elevated to 5th due to a five-place grid penalty assessed to Vettel for a change of his gearbox.^[4] Kvyat, after barely making it into Q3, was able to qualify 8th. At the start of the race, Kvyat struck the rear of Vettel's Ferrari SF16-H braking for turn one, sending him into Ricciardo, causing all three cars damage. Then, during the long left handed turn three, Kvyat struck Vettel again from behind, sending Vettel into the outside wall at great speed. Kvyat was assessed a ten-second stop-and-go penalty for the contact with Vettel. Both Kvyat and Ricciardo's races were ruined by the first lap incidents. Ricciardo was able to finish 11th, while Kvyat only managed to finish 15th.^[5]

In the week leading up to the Spanish Grand Prix, Kvyat was relegated back to Scuderia Toro Rosso.^[6] while Verstappen was promoted to Red Bull Racing. Verstappen qualified 4th, half of a second slower than Ricciardo, who qualified 3rd. On the first lap of the race, exiting the long right handed turn three, Hamilton and Rosberg collided, causing both to exit the race with damage. A safety car was deployed, with Ricciardo leading the race with Verstappen right behind him. Ricciardo went with a safer three stop strategy, while Verstappen went onto the riskier two stop strategy. At the end of the different strategies, Ricciardo finished 4th, while Verstappen was able to stay out ahead of the two Ferrari drivers, making him the youngest ever race winner and first Dutch race winner in Formula One.^[7]

In the 3rd practice session of the Monaco Grand Prix, Verstappen had a small crash into the outside barrier of turn three. In Q1, Verstappen clipped the inside barrier in turn fifteen with his front right tire, breaking the steering linkage, pitching the car into the outside barrier of turn sixteen. Ricciardo qualified 1st, securing his first ever pole position, three-tenths of a second faster than 2nd place Rosberg.^[8] Verstappen had to apply to the stewards for permission to start the race because he failed to set a qualifying time within the 107% rule. Verstappen elected to start the race from pit lane in front of Felipe Nasr, who also failed to set a time within the 107% rule.^[9] The race started behind the safety car due to wet conditions. After the safety car came in, Ricciardo was able to build a thirteen second gap ahead of Hamilton. Ricciardo came into the pits to switch to intermediate tyres, while Hamilton stayed on the extreme wet weather tyres. Ricciardo was able to reduce the gap to Hamilton to half of a second. Hamilton pitted for dry weather tyres, with Ricciardo following suit the next lap, lap 31. Ricciardo's pit crew did not have tyres ready to put onto his car, resulting in a very long stop, narrowly handing the lead to Hamilton.^[10] Ricciardo finished the race in 2nd. After the start of the race, Verstappen was able to fight his way into the top ten. On lap 34, Verstappen crashed into the barriers, retiring himself from the race.

Since the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix, the team has replaced Ferrari as the best of the rest behind Mercedes, often challenging Mercedes for race victories and finished on the podium at every race except Italy and Abu Dhabi. This was partly due to Verstappen's arrival at the team in Spain which caused Ricciardo to be pushed much more by Verstappen than he was by Kvyat, Ricciardo stating he has learnt from Verstappen's driving techniques in order to improve as a driver. At the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix, the team achieved their first 1-2 in the V6 hybrid era, the first time it has happened since 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix, the last race of the V8 era. This came after both Mercedes drivers encountered issues throughout the race: Nico Rosberg was spun at the start of the race, while Hamilton suffered a dramatic explosion of his Mercedes engine whilst leading comfortably. Therefore, Ricciardo was able to achieve his first race win in more than 2 years, while Verstappen came in 2nd.

At the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix, Verstappen and Ricciardo qualified fourth and sixth respectively.^[11] In a rain inflicted race, Verstappen barely managed to avoid hitting the guardrail when he spun on the main straight. After an additional tyre change from intermediates back to rain tyres, he ran in 15th place with just 16 laps remaining. He then made several overtakes in the closing laps to eventually finish on the podium in third place.^[12] He received considerable praise for his performance, with his team principal Christian Horner calling it "one of the best drives I've seen in Formula 1".^[13]

Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Red Bull RB12.

• The RB12 on Red Bull Racing's official website

Red Bull Racing
Founder Dietrich Mateschitz Advisor to Red Bull GmbH Helmut Marko Team Principal Christian Horner Personnel Adrian Newey Helmut Marko Rob Marshall Former personnel Neil Martin Geoff Willis Peter Prodromou 2016 race drivers 3. Daniel Ricciardo 33. Max Verstappen 2016 test and reserve drivers Pierre Gasly World champion(s) Sebastian Vettel Drivers' titles 2010 2011 2012 2013 Constructors' titles 2010 2011 2012 2013 Former drivers David Coulthard Robert Doornbos Christian Klien Daniil Kvyat Vitantonio Liuzzi Sebastian Vettel Mark Webber Junior team Scuderia Toro Rosso Red Bull Junior Team Pierre Gasly Niko Kari Sérgio Sette Câmara Luis Leeds Richard Verschoor Formula One cars RB1 RB2 RB3 RB4 RB5 RB6 RB7 RB8 RB9 RB10 RB11 RB12 Other cars X2010/X2011 Related Infiniti Global Limited Red Bull GmbH Renault Sport F1