Team Preview: Red Bull

2015 Drivers:

3: Daniel Ricciardo (2014 finish 3rd 238 points)

26: Daniil Kvyat (2014 finish 15th 8 points)

2014 Constructors' Championship 2nd (405 points)

2015 chassis: Red Bull RB11

The biggest story for Red Bull entering the 2015 season is the departure of Sebastian Vettel to Ferrari leaving the team in which he won four consecutive championships for. The other big story for Red Bull this year is that Adrian Newey is no longer working directly with the F1 team. The combination of Vettel driving and Newey designing dominated F1 from 2010-2013 in which Vettel won 34 races and the team won and the team winning 41 races. The team are replacing Vettel with Russian driver Daniil Kvyat who had an impressive rookie year with Toro Rosso last year and are expecting Daniel Ricciardo to jump into the role of team leader from the start of the season.

Red Bull will be looking for more performance this year out of the Renault engine as they try to catch up to Mercedes after they had such a dominant year last season. Red Bull won just three races but were the only team that was able to win except for Mercedes. It has been well noted that the Renault engines are down on power compared to the Mercedes engines and this will be one of the areas that Red Bull will likely struggle in once again.

Daniel Ricciardo was very impressive last year and looked like if he was given the right car he would be able to fight for the championship. Many people weren't sure what to expect from him but his strong performance proved the doubters wrong. Coming off such a strong season, Red Bull should be fully backing him from day 1 now that Vettel has left and Ricciardo should make a strong team leader.

Daniil Kvyat will now come into the role expected of Ricciardo last year. Kvyat had some impressive performances last season but is still young and not that experienced. Kvyat should be an interesting driver to follow as the 2015 season goes on to see how he adapts to being at the front of the grid.

Red Bull had a fairly quiet preseason as they were not near the top of the timesheets most days but they were able to get decent mileage in. Red Bull admit that they will not be near Mercedes but seem to be confident that they can lead the fight behind. Red Bull will be hoping for Mercedes to falter so they can pick up the pieces that are left behind.

Prediction: I expect Red Bull will not be strong enough to compete with Mercedes for the championship and they will also have stronger competition than last year for second. Because of this Red Bull may only win one or two races throughout the year if Mercedes falters. I expect at the end of the year Red Bull will finish third in the standings but both Ricciardo and Kvyat will impress.

How do you think Red Bull will fare over the 2015 season? Do you think they can compete for the championship or do you think they will have more of a struggle this season? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.