Hamilton caught spying on Red Bull’s RB19 F1 car

Lewis Hamilton was caught having a quick inspection of Red Bull’s 2023 F1 car after it was finally revealed at pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Lewis Larkam

23 Feb 2023

Shortly before the opening day of pre-season testing got underway at Sakhir, Red Bull’s RB19 was seen in public for the first time as the drivers and cars lined up on the starting grid for the traditional group photo ahead of the new campaign.

Red Bull had gone to great effort to keep the design of their latest F1 car a secret over the winter, having unveiled their 2023 livery on a show car at their New York launch.

The Milton Keynes-based team also offered no publicity images from their shakedown at Silverstone, providing only a short video of the RB19 on track in which the car could not be seen clearly.

Amid the huge intrigue surrounding Red Bull’s new RB19, Hamilton and former Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas were among the drivers seen inspecting the latest contender from the reigning world champions.

Hamilton was careful to avoid physical contact with the RB19 after rival Max Verstappen picked up a €50,000 fine for touching Hamilton’s rear wing at the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix.