Current Red Bull Racing

Red Bull Racing

FIA Entry: Red Bull Racing Renault
Car 1: Sebastien Vettel
Car 2: Mark Webber
Engine: Renault V8
Team Owner: Dietrich Mateschitz
Team Principal: Christian Horner
Chief Technical: Office Adrian Newey
Chief Designer: Rob Marshall
Race Engineer Car 1: Guillaume “Rocky” Rocquelin
Race Engineer Car 2: Ciaron Pilbeam

Stats as of end 2010

First Entered 2005
Races Entered 107
Race Wins 15
Pole Positions 20
Fastest Laps 12
Driver World Championships 1
Constructor World Championships 1

Team History

Before Red Bull

In 1997 Paul Stewart, aided by his father Jackie and the Ford Motor Company, made the leap from F3000 to F1 as an entrant. Jonny Herbert won 1 race for the Stewart team before it was sold off to Ford who re-branded the cars as Jaguar.

Ford stuck with it through thick and thin (mainly thin) through to the end of 2004 before selling the team to Dietrich Mateschitz, who owns the Red Bull drinks brand, for $1 on the understanding he invested $400 million over 3 years

Red Bull Racing

With Christian Horner installed as team principal, McLaren refugee David Coulthard and Christian Klien as the drivers Red Bull went racing. Their first season was certainly more successful than Jaguar had managed, even with the same Cosworth power plant, with Coulthard managing a 4th place at the European Grand Prix and the team finishing 7th in the Constructors Championship.

Adrian Newey joined from McLaren as chief designer for 2006 and Red Bull swapped to Ferrari engines. Coulthard managed a podium at his "home" race in Monaco prompting Christian Horner to jump naked, other than wearing a red cape, into a swimming pool.

Christian Klien, who shared the car with Vitantonio Liuzzi in 2005 and Robert Doornbos in 2006, departed the team for 2007 and was replaced by Mark Webber. The RB3 was the first full "Newey" car and was coupled with a Renault motor. The car was very unreliable, suffering from a variety of different problems but Webber managed a podium at the European Grand Prix and the team finished 5th in the WCC.

Retaining the same engine and drivers for 2008 Red Bull slipped back to 7th in the WCC and again only managed a single podium, for Coulthard in Canada, but the reliability issues which plagued the car the previous season were mainly resolved.

2009 was Red Bull's break through year. With Coulthard having retired Webber was joined by Red Bull junior driver Sebastien Vettel. The new rules allowed Newey to design a car which challenged for both the Drivers and Constructors Championship. Webber won 2 races, Vettel 4 and the team climbed to 2nd in WCC taking 3 pole positions en-route.

In 2010 Red Bull justified Mateschitz's investment winning the Constructors title and Vettel the Drivers Championship. They won 9 races through the season, 5 for Vettel and 4 for Webber and took 10 poles. Webber led the title race for much of the season but it was the 23 year old Vettel who stole the title in the last race of the season and became the youngest Champion as a result.

2011 sees the team retain the same driver line up as 2010 and continue with Renault engine power in the new RB7 car.

 

[Il_leone]

Yes the engine was awfully down on power , unreliable and poor on fuel but I don't think the infrastructure set up between Mclaren and Honda was going to work thinking it was still the 80's and early 90's where exclusive engine deal worked

Unlimited testing is a thing of the past

Was it not long ago that Red Bull wanted a Honda engine but Mclaren were too scared because they felt it will show up how bad their chassis was

It is Honda's gain and Renault's loss because at least Team Enstone realised their chassis is not as good as Red Bull's with the same motor in the back

 

[RasputinLives]

The difference with Honda this year and Honda last year can be summed up two words 'mule car'. I've been banging on about it for ages but it's pretty obvious. Honda were playing by the rules until they realised no one else was. In the winter they ran a mule car and low and behold the reliability improved beyond measure. Now they can concentrate on the speed.

I'm under no illusion that Honda will catch up to the Merc and Ferrari in the next few years but eventually maybe. For a team like Red Bull who have been compensating for a lower power engine for a decade it makes sense to take a works engine and compensate for that instead whilst they sort it.

It's logically a good move and one I'd make. However it could go horribly wrong. I have a good feeling about it though and F1 needs Honda.

 

[teabagyokel]

I think it is excellent. Honda have obviously brought the 'mule' along but in a sense they're running a 'mule' team in Formula One this season. Red Bull were always going to park a prospective engine supplier at Toro Rosso until they were up to standard. For this reason, Red Bull are the ideal partner for an engine-maker without other teams.

There's also a good possibility that Red Bull actually - not just talking about it or claiming it but actually - have the best chassis in Formula One. They're the one team that, over the last 10 years, has ameliorated a poor engine and succeeded in spite of a power deficit. They'll mask rather than accentuate the engine's deficiencies.

It's a brilliant move for Honda, it could be great for Red Bull and it'll release Renault from a marriage that just wasn't working! And it could be great for F1 to have a potential four 'works' teams with different engines (Mercedes, Ferrari, RBH and Renault).

 

[RasputinLives]

Although there is a distinct possibility they'll ditch then for Aston Martin engines in 2021 if Aston decide to bite the bullet.

Aston Martin Red Bull Honda is a bit of a mouthful by the way.

 

[cider_and_toast]

I don't think Aston Martin have the infrastructure or finances to sustain an F1 engine programme.

 

[Titch]

Which is a real shame.

 

[Il_leone]

Honda need to succeed in F1 to help break the Ferrari - Mercedes stranglehold. If they do then other engine manufacturers will want to F1 which is only good especially teams like Force India and Williams could do with an engine manufacturer

Otherwise they will all take the cheap route and do Formula E

 

[Angel]

Did anyone else think the lederhosen the team were wearing helped Red Bull to the win? I think the sight of all those knobbly knees put the others off!

 

[gethinceri]

No.

 

[teabagyokel]

There were signs of lederhosen at Mercedes too. That went badly.

 

[Grizzly]

I see Red Bull have revived the relentless slagging-off of the Renault power unit (which they don't have in their car of course, because their's is powered by 1600 hybrid clock springs). They've even shown their joker-card following the British GP: F2 engine!

I just can't shake the feeling of deja vous...

Honda - beware!

 

[Il_leone]

Well the Honda engine was relatively slow down the straight at Silverstone as well

Silverstone is now a power track and Red Bull are whining about a lack of power is holding them back again.. lets what happens if Honda donlt make the deficit

 

[Titch]

It looks as though Red Bull want Sainz to replace Dan.

 

[RasputinLives]

Where's that coming from Titch? I've heard a lot of journalists saying he should but nothing coming out of Red Bull other than Max saying he doesn't want him. I'd have thought they would have announced him straight away if that was the case.

 

[FB]

Am I the only one who reads article like this and thinks "What the fuck has it got to do with the Vestappen camp"?

https://www.planetf1.com/news/verstappen-opposes-sainz-reunion-at-red-bull/

The more you see stuff like the this the more you realise that Frank Williams was right. Treat the drivers like the rest of the hired help as another will be along shortly.

 

[Angel]

Max doesn't want to risk being shown up by Sainz. Right now he's enjoying the fact that he's the 'special one' at Red Bull, maybe he's scared Carlos will come in and make him not look so special after all. A lot of drivers like to choose who they have as their team mate if they can, it shouldn't be their decision though in my opinion.

 

[siffert_fan]

I still believe that Max will turn out to be a re-run of Gilles V: fun to watch, wild at times, and never a Champion. I think RB will rue the loss of DR.

 

[Titch]

RasputinLives I can’t find the article now, it was alongside a report on how Nicki Lauda was doing after his operation. But search as I might, I can’t find it again. It certainly isn’t showing up anywhere else. So Fake news, I guess.

 

[Izumi]

I still believe that Max will turn out to be a re-run of Gilles V: fun to watch, wild at times, and never a Champion. I think RB will rue the loss of DR.

I have feeling that Verstappen is turning into Mansell. They have similar driving Kamikaze style. When he attacked Vettel, Max was applauded, but Seb was mad.
Mansell moved into overtaking situations when he wasn't always under control, relaying on the other car to manage the way out without destroying equipment. Once in a US race Fittipaldi got furious with him, accusing Mansell from using Fittipaldi's car as substitute for Mansell's shot brakes. That was not the only isolated incident, and Max sometimes does the same (in my dilettante's opinion).

 

[The Artist.....]

Apparently, the number of engine component changes that Toro Rosso have had to make this year have nothing to do with the reliability of the Honda engine...

Verstappen: Honda's rate of F1 engine component changes misleading

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!