Red Bull racing presents the RB4.

(click on images to enlarge.)

The Red Bull racing team presented their new race car yesterday, the RB4. The press was invited in the stands of the Jerez, Spain racetrack.

Adrian Newey, technical director of Red Bull racing, affirmed that the RB4 should be able to finish more races compared to last season. According to Newey, the evolutions made to the car should allow more points scored by the pilots David Coulthard and Mark Webber.

The owner of Red Bull racing, Dietrich Mateschitz, has set very high objectives for the team: to finish third in the constructors championship. Mateschitz thinks that the RB4 should battle with the BMW-Sauber, the Williams and the Renault. The owner thinks that his team should score a couple of podiums in 2008 and maybe win a race in 2009.

Those objectives are really very optimistic. Red Bull racing is one of the middle plateau teams and a place in the points in a majority of the races would be a notable improovement. Last season, the hydraulics and the gearbox were the main sources of retirements for the RB3. The team engineers focused on those parts and now wish that the work will pay it’s dividends on the track.

The team will use the Renault engines for the 2008 season and want to compare their performances with Flavio Briattore’s race cars.

Are the Red Bull racing team expectations too high? We will have an answer during the 2008 season.

(Pictures: The RB4, Red Bull racing.)