Not everyone will see a Formula 1 car with their own eyes. But seeing a championship? That’s a completely different experience.
The Red Bull RB8 took center stage at Greater Noida’s Expo Center as part of the Red Bull Moto Jam India 2026. From the moment it was launched, it was clear that this was not just another car show. This was something completely different. This is the same car that Sebastian Vettel used to win the Indian GP in 2012 and 2013. (Image: Instagram/ @predragvucovick @ali.bharmal @focussportsin)
STILL THE SAME monster
Let’s be honest about what RB8 is. It is over ten years old. By the unrelenting standards of Formula 1, where cars are almost completely redesigned from one season to the next, it is practically ancient.
And yet the aura never left.
This is the same car Sebastian Vettel drove to victory in the 2013 Indian Grand Prix. Legendary driver. A legendary machine. The only difference on this day was in the livery. Instead of the classic ones, they dressed in Racing Bulls colors
Red Bull, blue and yellow. But underneath, he was still a beast that dominated one of the sport’s greatest eras.
Watching from the stands, the first thing that strikes you is the size. Or rather the lack of it. It is impossibly low. Incredibly narrow. Even from meters away, it looks like something that shouldn’t be able to move, let alone do what it does.
Then it moves. And everything changes.
THE MOMENT HE STEPPED ON THE GAS
If you didn’t wear earplugs, your ears paid for it. The sound that comes out of an F1 car at full throttle is not something you are prepared for the first time. It doesn’t just fill the space around you. It gets to you.
He was behind the wheel Arvid Lindblad. At just 18 years old, he is the latest addition to Formula 1 to race for Racing Bulls this season. Watching someone so young handle such a wild machine was a sight to behold.
As he drifted through the Expo Center, the tires began to visibly heat up. If you’ve watched F1 on TV, you already know about tire wear and tire management. It’s a constant talking point.
But seeing it in real time, even from the stands, reframes everything. The rubber heats up so quickly, visible even from meters away. It tells you everything you need to know about the forces this machine generates just by existing.
There were even times when the car seemed to lock up. And Lindblad was far from pushing it to the limit.
This is the thing about the RB8 that is the hardest to explain. It’s not completely tamed even on a gentle ride. It always looks like it’s barely contained.
To understand why, consider this. The most powerful Maruti Swift has a power of around 90 bhp. The RB8 will produce 850. That’s the output of ten Swifts crammed into a car that weighs just 640kg, lighter than the Swift itself.
If you lined up ten Swifts and somehow bolted all their engines together, you’d start to come close to what the RB8 delivers every time it hits the gas. Red Bull Moto Jam was for car enthusiasts and more. (Image Credit: @predragvucovick @ali.bharmal @focussportsin)
It’s not a car in the way we normally think of cars. It’s an automotive wonder. Technical extreme. Something that exists at the very limit of what is physically possible on four wheels.
Seeing it at an authorized service center is out of the question. Seeing it on screen doesn’t do it justice. When a room catches fire, you must be in the room. You must feel the air shift. You need to hear what 850 horsepower actually sounds like when it’s unleashed, and you’re looking from the stands meters away, nothing between you and the noise.
Greater Noida got it on this day. And for anyone who was there, it’s not something that will be easily forgotten.
– The end
Issued by:
Amar Panicker
Published on:
March 2, 2026 1:15 PM IST
