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Red Bull keeps 2015 RB11 F1 challenger under wraps [UPDATE]

UPDATE: A previous version of this post suggested that Daniil Kvyat drove for Red Bull last year, when he actually drove for its affiliate team Toro Rosso. The text below has been updated with the correct information. This season will be one of new beginnings for Red Bull Racing. It's the first time in three years that it's not returning to the Formula One grid as defending champions, and without a world champion at the helm. But return it will to fight to regain its title, and this is the car with which it intends to do so. Revealed ahead of the season's first test session in Jerez this weekend, the new RB11 is wearing a bold camouflage "testing livery" of the type we're more accustomed to seeing on road-going prototype than on a racing car. Expect it to be replaced by the familiar blue, red and yellow by the time the season kicks off in Melbourne next month. Though the camouflage may keep certain aero developments disguised (if not altogether hidden) from the prying eyes of its rivals, the sloping nose mandated by the new regulations is plain to see. Otherwise the new RB11 is likely more of an evolution rather than a revolutionary clean-sheet redesign over the RB10 that returning hot-shoe Daniel Ricciardo drove last year, to be joined this season by Daniil Kvyat, who's been promoted from Toro Rosso to replace departing four-time champion Sebastian Vettel. Whether they can succeed, however, will largely depend on the engine. Red Bull has emerged as the primary partner for engine supplier Renault (sister company to the team's title sponsor Infiniti). In fact, after Lotus switched to Mercedes (and assuming Caterham doesn't make it back to the grid), Red Bull and its sister team Toro Rosso will be the only teams running Renault engines this season. The team says it has worked closer than ever with the French automaker to develop the Renault power unit, but chances are slim that they'll be able to catch up to Mercedes given the restrictions on engine development. If anyone can catch the Silver Arrows, though, it'll surely be Red Bull – the only other team to win a grand prix last season. THE RB11 REVEALED After an intensely busy off-season, Infiniti Red Bull's Racing's 2015 Formula One car, the RB11, has hit the track and begun testing at the Circuito de Jerez in Spain ahead of the new season.

2015 Italian Grand Prix is smoke, mirrors, stalls, and stewards

For the first day-and-a-half of the Italian Formula One Grand Prix weekend, everything went to blueprint: Mercedes in front, Ferrari lurking, everyone else scrambling in their usual orders behind. Then qualifying came, and someone stirred the pot. About the only thing we expected was for Lewis Hamilton to put his Mercedes-AMG Petronas on pole position, the 11th time he's done it this year. He did it with a brand-new specification engine, one that represents not only an evolution in components, but also in power unit philosophy. Kimi Raikkonen lines up in second. It's been a long time since we read those words; the Iceman hasn't been on the first row since the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix, when he put his Lotus second on the grid behind... Lewis Hamilton. Raikkonen lined up just ahead of a Ferrari at that China race, then driven by Fernando Alonso. In Italy this weekend, he lined up in front of the Ferrari driven by his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, who qualified third. Both Ferraris benefitted from an upgraded power unit, ending a front-row drought for the scuderia that goes all the way back to Monaco in 2009 Germany in 2012. Nico Rosberg has a lot of work to do from fourth in the second Mercedes-AMG Petronas. Mercedes discovered a problem with Rosberg's engine but couldn't figure out the cause, so he reverted to the previous-spec engine he used in Belgium, one that's six races old. The lack of power hurt. Williams teammates Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas took fifth and sixth, with Massa seemingly given a team-ordered helping hand. Williams told Bottas to tow Massa down the front straight, giving Massa a blistering time in the first sector. Then Bottas did it again, ensuring he would line up behind Massa. The first Sahara Force India of Sergio Perez nabbed seventh, three places ahead of teammate Nico Hulkenberg in tenth, with Romain Grosjean in the Lotus behind Perez in eighth. Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber qualified ninth, but some clumsy driving saw him impede Hulkenberg twice. The stewards penalized Ericsson with a three-place grid penalty and two points on his superlicense, so Hulkenberg inherited ninth and Pastor Maldonado in the second Lotus inherited tenth. We hardly saw Hamilton during the race, because he led from the start, worked up a larger gap to second place on every lap, and didn't give up the lead for the whole event.

Weekly Recap: An '80s encore in the auto world

The '80s returned in a big way this week, as National Lampoon's, Ghostbusters, Miami Vice, and even Tetris were back in the news. While there were far more serious topics (see below), nostalgia mingled with modern marketing to put these Reagan-era favorites back in the spotlight. The '80s were alternately cold and corny at times, but their cultural touchstones can still generate big money. That's why Infiniti recreated an iconic scene from National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) for an advertisement that hawks the QX60 crossover. Actor Ethan Embry, who played Rusty Griswold in a later Lampoon's movie, pilots the Infiniti – which is serving as a modern Family Truckster – for a trip to Walley World. A blonde pulls alongside in a red Lamborghini. They flirt, and she drives on. Christie Brinkley, who played the original girl in the red sports car (she drove a Ferrari in the '83 flick), is riding shotgun and chides Embry with: "A blonde. In a convertible. Seriously?" Okay, it's hardly on the level of "here's looking at you," or even "you can't handle the truth," but it should resonate with '80s babies, many of whom are now having children of their own and moving into three-row SUVs like the QX60. Naturally, Hollywood is going back to the well, too, with a Vacation remake that premiers July 29. Meanwhile, Ghostbusters is returning next year, and director Paul Feig offered a peak at the new Eco-1 in this tweet. In the 1984 classic, the team drove a modified 1959 Cadillac. Now, it will drive a late '80s Cadillac. As expected, the announcement generated support and controversy from movie and car enthusiasts. His tweet had generated several thousand retweets and favorites in the days following the news. Though the '80s Caddy looks, uh, less elegant in comparison to the now-iconic fins and curves of the original Ecto-1, it's about the same time lapse into the past as the '59 Caddy was to viewers in 1984. Speaking of 1984, Miami Vice, which debuted that year on NBC, is seeing one of its hero cars hit the auction block, Mecum Auctions announced this week. The 1986 Ferrari used on the show will be offered for sale Aug. 15 during Monterey classic car week. The white supercar runs a 390-hp flat 12-cylinder engine paired with a five-speed manual transmission and was in storage after the show ended in 1989 until earlier this year. It has 16,124 miles on the odometer and is authenticated by Ferrari North America and Classiche.