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.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Blog Zbod.....Do you think that Cosworth expertise and infrastructure, can quickly develop a competitive engine on par with Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda, and if possible, how long could that take?

About three years I reckon and even then nobody can contend that even with the expertise of the Cosworth engineers that Cosworth were ever competitive and they will always be at least 2 years behind everyone else, I certainly would not go down that path...

 

[teabagyokel]

Who cares if FIA asked Redbull to fit a rabbit to measure the fuel through its scrotum.

I don't know, but I'm thinking some type of animal rights organisation?

 

[FB]

Unfortunately Brian Hart died earlier this year. Given the quality of turbo engines he produced with naff all budget think what he could have done with Red Bull's millions.

Maybe Mateschitz could convince BMW to come back as an engine supplier? The new Le Man Porsche has a hybrid power train, Audi and Peugeot have been producing fantastic hybrid racing engines for years. Red Bull's options are pretty endless if they are prepared to invest the money. Perhaps one of the Japanese manufacturers would like to give Honda a bloody nose and there are plenty of car companies in Korea who might enjoy so F1 racing success.

 

[Mephistopheles]

To be honest FB I believe that come the European races RedBull will once again be miles ahead of the field the car itself is undoubtedly the best of the rest and all they need to do is get the electronics sorted and off they will go, another WDC for Seb

 

[Road of Bones]

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns27716.html

Anyone still think Red Bull have a case?

 

[teabagyokel]

But Germany's Auto Motor und Sport claims that '95 per cent' of all the problems with the sensor up and down pitlane in 2014 have been in Renault-powered cars.

It is suspected that after-market modifications made to the sensor to suit the installation of the Renault 'power unit' have been causing the problems.

So they're breaking the fuel sensors, claiming they're broken, then using what ever the heck they like. Diabolically clever!

 

[Blog Zbod]

AMuS's Michael Schmidt as no end of bad news for the Renault-powered teams. He says their software problems are so complex, they might be unsolvable. And even if they are put right, their ICE simply is of an inferior design to Mercedes', and at best they still will be down on the order of 40bhp. And what might be the final nail in the coffin, the balky bits are frozen by the TR until the end of the season.

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns27716.html

Anyone still think Red Bull have a case?

No.

I know they have a case. Still. 1. The modifications were made necessary because of an inherent incompatibility between the Gill sensors and the Renault fuel system. All of the Renault-powered teams used the same modification. 2. The regulations nowhere forbid modifying the sensor in such a fashion. 3. There is as yet no proof the modification was related to the sensor's fluctuating values. 4. The matter of the sensors failing is an issue separate and distinct from Red Bull's chief complaint of them, the drifting values.

 

[teabagyokel]

Its the same old crap from Red Bull though, isn't it? Like the Pirelli tyres last year.

"Everyone has the same, we can't get it to work, hence the FIA should outlaw it."

If they've got an engine that screws the readings, Mercedes and Ferrari have managed. Red Bullshit abounds.

 

[Road of Bones]

Blog Zbod : are you a lawyer, perchance?

 

[Lewywo4]

To be honest FB I believe that come the European races RedBull will once again be miles ahead of the field the car itself is undoubtedly the best of the rest and all they need to do is get the electronics sorted and off they will go, another WDC for Seb

Meph.....Red Bull will undoubtedly close on Mercedes, and make the season alot more competitive, and exciting. They will not dominate the rest of the field, because Red Bull can't use exhaust gases into the diffuser, which was a major strength they had, and a feature that Vettel was able to maximise and effectively use.....that's gone with the new exhaust pipe exit.

 

[Fenderman]

Surely no team should modify a component that is specified by the governing body as the authorised standard component to be used by all? I wonder if the term has been misused. My understanding is that it is the location of the fuel flow sensor on the Renault power units that is different from the others and not that the component itself has been modified. I think I will await the definitive judgement of the FIA on this one as there seems to be a degree of obfuscation and/or confusion going on.

 

[Mephistopheles]

It would be breaking the rules in the extreme to tamper with a homologated piece of equipment and would warrant disqualification from the entire season...

 

[RasputinLives]

I see the dynamic FIA handing out a strong punishment of 'missing the young drivers test' coming Red Bulls way at that hearing. Carlos Sainz Jr will be gutted.

Max would have kickef em out for a couple of races.

I'm hoping for a happy medium between the two. Something that says 'stop pushing your luck' without making them pack up there toys and clear off completly.

 

[Mephistopheles]

You mean the diplomatic approach not that I believe that there is any room in sport for diplomacy because sport is not a democracy and should never be treated as such..

 

[RasputinLives]

The strict comendant approach huh?

For you Red Bull ze war is over.....

 

[Mephistopheles]

Indeed...

 

[Blog Zbod]

Both Red Bulls are running new ICEs at Bahrain. I *think* (still looking for confirmation) Renault made "safety & reliability" changes to these engines (probably with, as is customary, a few performance tag-alongs). According to Michael Schmidt at AMuS, ICE designs are equally responsible with the software gremlins for the Renault's power deficit to Mercedes, and I would imagine Renault have used this opportunity to try to close a bit of their ICE's power gap.

 

[Blog Zbod]

I think it’s going to be extremely difficult is the honest truth. The gap we have is buried in the power unit and it’s difficult for us to get on top of that quickly.

We can try to do our side on the chassis but then we rely on our partners Renault do their side on the power unit. We can see where we are strong and weak. We are competitive in the corners but lacking on the straights.

I’ve been in the sport for many years and I’ve been through the peaks and troughs. This is part of the cycle. When we were winning I always maintained that you don’t stay on top for ever and that has been the case.

-- Adrian Newey, speaking to Radio 5 Live

 

[Quintessentially]

I see the Redbull PR machine has gone into overdrive again just before the hearing.

 

[Lewywo4]

Amazing story of a person who feels that working at Red Bull, is basically his hobby.