Red Bull confirms earlier car launch for 2018

Red Bull has confirmed it will launch 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.

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' launch -- to unveil its 2018 model.

Last year the team followed its old approach but lost valuable time in winter testing due to a correlation…