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.

 

[Blog Zbod]

Porsche's LeMans team also say the FIA-mandated Gill sensors, the exact same device Red Bull are on about, are bad.

So either Red Bull are right, or Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, and Porsche (and other F1 teams who have opted not to risk the ire of the FIA) are wrong. Once there is no political risk to doing so, I'll wager the other eight teams on the grid also all will report the Gill sensors are non-compliant.

The FIA did not create the kilogram. Nor the hour. Those are not theirs to define. They cannot on the one hand create a regulation employing measurements for which there are internationally accepted standards, then ignore those standards. To do so would undermine any shred of legitimacy they might possess. But that is precisely what they purport to do. And Red Bull are calling rubbish on them. The FIA-supplied device does not comply with the internationally-accepted standards, so Red Bull, quite logically, defaulted to the use of a device (a TR-prescribed and compliant device, mind you) which did. The Gill sensor took the decision for them; Red Bull merely followed its direction. The device the FIA issues fails to meet TR 5.10.4, therefore it does not cannot supply meaningful data to confirm compliance with TR 5.1.4.

The FIA gave themselves "an out" in TD016/14, but they imprudently chose not to utilise it. They could have offered Red Bull the option to use 5.10.3 over 5.10.4, as is set forth in 016-14, but they did not. And now that decision imperils their entire house of cards.

Oh, bother.


If you have chosen to participate in the sport of bull riding (no pun intended), you know exactly what is in store for you once they've thrown open the gate. Todt and all the rest knew coming in that the sport of Formula One racing is populated with men who are both competitive and aggressive. If you deign to assume governance of this sport, then attempt to control it through tepid and wistful regulation, you should expect to be tossed to the ground and stomped mercilessly.

Gawd, I miss Mad Max. At least he knew how to stay on for the full count of eight, I'll give 'im that.

 

[teabagyokel]

The question isn't whether the sensors are good. It really is not.

The FIA gave Red Bull an acceptable solution to the problem before the race. Red Bull ignored them.
The FIA repeatedly gave Red Bull warnings to the nature of the problem during the race. Red Bull ignored them.

This is not a question of whether the FIA are incompetent. They are. This is a question of given the same problems, 10 teams chose to comply with the FIA's solutions, as they were a governing body, and the 11th team elected to do whatever they chose, and effectively ran unmonitored.

Had they complied, then they would win any appeal, if the sensors are not good. The reason they have been disqualified is that they, and only they, reacted to the issues with intransigence, arrogance and poor sportsmanship.

They couldn't have had more opportunities to correct this, given that the sensors weren't good.

 

[Blog Zbod]

The question isn't whether the sensors are good. It really is not....

As I opined elsewhere,

This is a turf war, pure and simple. The FIA are arguing its boy-parts are bigger than Red Bull's, and TD016/14 is the yardstick.

 

[teabagyokel]

Blog Zbod - Until the series is called the Red Bull Racing Formula One World Championship rather than the FIA Formula One World Championship, then the FIA should have more muscle (or cock) than an individual participant.

 

[RasputinLives]

Lets bring in a football anlogy.

The ref see's a player committ a foul and shows him the red card. TV reply shows the ref is incorrect and it was not a foul.

Do the team.

a) keep the player on the pitch and have him refuse to leave dispite repeatedly being told too.

or

b) have him leave the pitch and play on lodging a formal and official complaint and appeal with gathered evidence to bring a full and proper investigation?


I think I know which one would happen.

 

[Plutus]

Red Bull weren't shown a black flag during the race though. The stewards messages were more of an advisory, similar to a referee telling a player to stop a certain behaviour or showing him/her a yellow card.
A football player can still be ban after a match, that decision can also be appealed.

 

[RasputinLives]

No but before the race they were told 'don't do that its against the rules' so my post still stands and my point, which was made, is still exactly the same.

 

[teabagyokel]

Don't give up yet, Red Bullistas, they've only been ahead in the WCC after the first race once under the 25-18 points system.

 

[The Artist.....]

If you want to play football, you have to follow the rules as laid out by the FA, and monitored by the referee. If you want to drive on the road, you need to follow the rules set out for the road, and monitored by the police.

The FIA have been very clever as they have been clear that it is irrelevant what the actual fuel flow is, but rather what the indicated fuel rate is!

 

[Mephistopheles]

But that is the way it has to be otherwise chaos will rule and there would be no F1 or any sport except maybe banger car racing or riot football which is what I used to play when I was in college anything went punching kicking absolutely anything there was no ref and no rules I'm not even sure there was a ball involved, a mate of mine broke his collar bone playing it when someone picked him up and slam dunked him it was ****ing mental and ****ing brilliant at the same time we would walk off the pitch afterwards battered, bruised, broken completely shagged out and we all agreed that we had the most fantastic time.

If that is what people want from F1 then I'm up for it....

 

[Bill Boddy]

So you want to be the dummy in the crash tests?

 

[KekeTheKing]

TBY summed up the situation brilliantly a few posts back, but I just wanted to add in Joe Saward's take on the situation.

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2014/03/22/the-red-bull-appeal/

"the ethos at Red Bull, as seen clearly last year, is that winning is all that matters, even if that means crapping on the sport. In my view that is what has happened here. Red Bull decided that there was a grey area that could be exploited and duly exploited it, just as last year they wanted different tyres and piled criticism on Pirelli until that happened. One can argue that winning is all that matters, but I will always argue that winning with grace is better than winning at any cost. In the long term this kind of behaviour impacts on a team’s reputation and that rubs off on the brand as well."

"Much will depend on whether the Court of Appeal looks at the question in purely legal terms, or whether it allows for some commonsense and ‘doing the right’ thing. The verdict will matter because if it is just a legal decision then teams will never again be relied upon to do something in the interest of the sport. All things considered, however, I think that a better decision would be to dismiss the appeal as frivolous and give the team a big fine for wasting everyone’s time."

 

[Plutus]

No but before the race they were told 'don't do that its against the rules' so my post still stands and my point, which was made, is still exactly the same.

Against what rule? It is a technical directive.
The rule states the "fuel flow limit may not exceed 100 kg/h".
I see what you mean that the referee in football makes decisions based on what he sees on the pitch and penalises it according to the rule book.
The FIA did the same here and judged on what their data was showing them which may have been and according to Red Bull is false.
Red Bull however still weren't shown a black flag and as it was a TD did not have to abide by it.
Who can guarantee that the offset given to Red Bull was correct, they may have be underpowered had they followed it?

 

[ZakspeedYakspeed]

Interesting comments from Saward ... but pullleeeze Joe ... do not don Rose Tinted Glasses when it suits to write about a unicorns and pixie dust fairy tale of F1 in 2014 ... "doing the right thing" "winning with grace" " brand reputation" .... just call it for what it is .... tall poppy sydrome .... everyone wants to see a different winner ... and a more competitive formula this year ...

The FIA has backed themselves into a corner to defend a faulty technology ... we should be thankful this will be tested after the first race of the season and not after the tenth race of the season ... whatever the outcome ...

 

[RasputinLives]

All tems must use the FIA provide 'spy in the cab'. That a rule. Red Bull broke it.

If it was a 'directive' they'd all design their own.

 

[siffert_fan]

Why should I care about, or give any special weight to, the opinion of someone who's total F1 experience, as far as I can tell, is as a journalist?

Beyond the journalist thing, what makes Saward's opinion worth any more than yours or mine?

 

[Plutus]

That's for you to decide and he does say that he isn't a lawyer.
In general his insights are good because he has decent knowledge about the sport and he doesn't waste readers time by spreading rumours on his blog.

 

[teabagyokel]

Mateschitz apparently has warned Red Bull will leave F1 if they don't agree with the way the sport is run.

Hope they don't let the door hit them on the arse as they leave.

 

[RasputinLives]

Why should I care about, or give any special weight to, the opinion of someone who's total F1 experience, as far as I can tell, is as a journalist?

Beyond the journalist thing, what makes Saward's opinion worth any more than yours or mine?

He's been in the pitlane for 30 odd years watching these people work day in day out? Jose Mourinho never played football but he seems to know what he's doing.

 

[Plutus]

Bernie will be pleased if they do leave, as he only wants 10 teams in the sport.