The story
History
Origins
The current Red Bull team traces its origins back to the Stewart Grand Prix outfit that made its debut in 1997. Jackie Stewart sold his team to the Ford Motor Company late in 1999 who rebranded the team Jaguar Racing. It had little success over the next five years.
Jaguar Racing was put up for sale in September 2004 when Ford decided it could "no longer make a compelling business case for any of its brands to compete in Formula One." Red Bull, an energy drinks company, agreed its purchase of Jaguar Racing on the final day of the sale, 15 November 2004. BBC Sport reported that Ford asked bidders for a symbolic US$1 in return for a commitment to invest US$400 million in the team over three Grand Prix seasons. The team continued to have access to the Cosworth engine developed for their 2005 chassis, and the operation continued under the new title. Christian Horner was installed as the new team boss and lined up David Coulthard and Christian Klien to drive for the team. The team operated under a British racing licence from 2005 to 2006.
Red Bull Racing was not the start of Red Bull's involvement in Formula One, as they sponsored Sauber from 1995 to 2004 and Gerhard Berger before that, beginning in 1989. After buying a Formula One team of its own, Red Bull ended its long-term partnership with the Swiss team.
2005 season
Red Bull's owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, reportedly tried to recruit former Formula One driver and BMW Motorsport chief (and fellow Austrian) Gerhard Berger to help guide the team through its debut season. However, this was never realised. For 2005, the chassis was christened the RB1. Red Bull Racing used Cosworth engines in its maiden year due to the ease of continuing with the engine Jaguar Racing used.
Former McLaren driver David Coulthard led the team. Coulthard was chosen for his experience, considered ideal to help lead the fledgling team. For the second car, Red Bull shared the drive between two of its young sponsored drivers: Christian Klien, who had driven for Jaguar in 2004, and 2004 F3000 champion Vitantonio Liuzzi. At first, it was announced that Klien and Liuzzi would swap driving duty every four races, but by the end of the season, Liuzzi had appeared only four times.
Red Bull's first year in Formula One was a massive success compared to its predecessors, Jaguar Racing. They were 6th in the Constructors' Championship for most of the season, only beaten by the fast-improving BAR Hondas at the end of the season. In a single season, they amassed more points than Jaguar had in 2003 and 2004. Coulthard, after a poor 2003 and 2004 with McLaren, was a revelation for the team while Klien showed that he had vastly improved from 2004. Overall they scored 34 points; 24 for Coulthard, 9 for Klien and 1 for Liuzzi. Red Bull Racing was a consistent point and occasional podium challenger for most of their debut season.
American driver Scott Speed, who rose through the ranks in the American equivalent of the Red Bull Junior Team, Red Bull Driver Search, was Red Bull Racing's third driver in 2005 for the Canadian and United States Grands Prix. Speed was attractive to Red Bull Racing because of his American nationality which would raise the profile of both Red Bull and Formula One in America, a market where the sport has traditionally struggled to make an impact.
2006 season
On 23 April 2005, the team announced a deal to utilise customer Ferrari engines in 2006. This coincided with a rule change mandating the use of V8 engines, making it likely that both Red Bull Racing and Ferrari would use the same specification engine. Red Bull Racing continued to use Michelin tyres, rather than the Bridgestones used by Ferrari.
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On 8 November 2005, Red Bull Racing hired Adrian Newey, the highly successful McLaren technical director, as well as Rob Marshall.
On 15 December 2005, the team's second car, the Red Bull RB2, hit the track for the first time. David Coulthard completed a handful of laps of the Silverstone circuit in England, and declared the new car was a "sexy looking thing". In early testing Red Bull was plagued with cooling problems and overheating of car components.
At the opening race of the 2006 season in Bahrain, Christian Klien qualified eighth (ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella's Renault and both BMWs). Coulthard had problems when he flat-spotted a tyre fighting with Nick Heidfeld, and finished 10th; the cooling problems returned when his Ferrari engine expired on the slowing down lap, forcing a grid penalty for the following race. In Malaysia, Coulthard made up several places from the back of the grid but was forced to retire with hydraulic problems, while Klien had an opening lap incident with Kimi Räikkönen and after pitting for repairs also retired with hydraulic failure. Coulthard got a point in Australia after Scott Speed was penalised for passing him under the yellow flags. The following races were marred with retirements and lowly finishes.
Coulthard finished third at Monaco, the team's first podium finish. Team boss Christian Horner said before the race that if one of his cars were to finish on the podium, he would jump into a swimming pool at the track naked. He ended up jumping into the pool wearing only a red cape. Coincidentally both Stewart Grand Prix and Jaguar Racing, the team's predecessors, also scored their maiden podiums at Monaco.
Coulthard scored a point at Montreal, passing Jenson Button in the closing stages of the race despite starting in last place due to an engine change that warranted a grid penalty. Klien also fared well, driving the second RB2 to 11th position. At the United States Grand Prix Klien retired along with eight other cars including Toro Rosso driver Scott Speed on the first lap after a series of first corner incidents. Coulthard finished 7th.
The team finished 7th in the FIA Constructors' Championship, with 16 points, five points ahead of the struggling Williams team. Coulthard (14 pts) finished in 13th place in the drivers' standings, the departed Klien (2 pts) was classified in 18th position. Klien's replacement, Robert Doornbos, failed to score any points.
2007 season
2007 saw the debut of the Adrian Newey designed RB3. After lengthy discussions over Red Bull Racing's obligation to continue to use Ferrari engines for 2007, the team announced on 31 August 2006 they would use customer Renault engines for the 2007 season, the Ferrari contract being passed to Scuderia Toro Rosso.
The team announced on 7 August 2006 that it had signed Mark Webber to drive alongside Coulthard for the 2007 season, replacing Christian Klien who ended his association with the team. Klien was replaced by Robert Doornbos for the last three races of 2006. Doornbos became the team's non-racing third driver for 2007. In 2007 Red Bull officially became an Austrian constructor by receiving an Austrian licence, though continued to operate from the same base in Britain.
Despite qualifying in 7th place for his home race in Melbourne, Mark Webber finished down in 13th due to a persistent problem with a fuel flap that closed as the pit mechanics went to put the fuel in and when it was opened it remained open until the next pit stop greatly increasing drag and decreasing airflow over the rear wing. It was worse for Coulthard however, who crashed heavily with Williams's Alexander Wurz in the late stages of the race. Malaysia was more of the same for Webber, while Coulthard retired with brake problems. However, in Bahrain the team showed improving pace, and Coulthard and Webber were running 7th (with Coulthard starting from the back) and 8th respectively before reliability problems put both out of the race in quick succession. However, in testing at Barcelona Coulthard has set the fastest lap in the new configuration of the circuit (since superseded by Felipe Massa). Coulthard secured the team's first points by scoring a gritty 5th with a faulty gearbox on his closing laps in Spain, while Webber was dogged with hydraulic problems all weekend, eventually retiring from the race after failing to set a competitive lap in qualifying. The performance hike the team experienced at the Catalan track left both drivers and team optimistic about their future results, with reliability troubles being as much a focus as the increase of their already competitive pace.
Red Bull Racing further strengthened their technical department by hiring Geoff Willis as Technical Director on 17 July 2007.
After this, the drivers achieved strong results during the unpredictable 2007 European Grand Prix, where Webber finished 3rd for his second career podium finish. Coulthard also performed well with 5th place after starting 20th on the grid due to a qualifying issue of the team keeping him in the pits too long to complete another qualifying lap.
Red Bull had a strong end to the season. Webber seemed on course for at least a podium at the Japanese Grand Prix, but he was involved in a crash with Sebastian Vettel. During the same race, Coulthard again demonstrated his wet-weather ability and finished 4th.
At the Chinese Grand Prix, Red Bull had a competitive qualifying session. Coulthard achieved 5th on the grid, along with Webber in 9th.
2008 season
Red Bull continued with the same drivers in 2008 and had numbers 9 and 10 on their cars after finishing 5th in the 2007 Constructors' Championship. Red Bull presented the RB4 at the Jerez circuit on 16 January and announced that Sébastien Buemi would be their test and reserve driver for 2008 combining it with his GP2 drive with the Arden International GP2 team.
After Webber retired from the opening round he went on to score 5 consecutive points finishes. Coulthard had a tougher start to the 2008 campaign due to poor qualifying, but a 3rd place at Canada gave Red Bull their first podium since the 2007 European Grand Prix. At the half-way mark, the team had notched up 24 points – the same as their total for the 2007 season – and were locked in a fierce battle with Toyota and Renault for 4th in the Constructors' Championship. The team had also resolved the reliability problems that had dogged them the previous year.
However, as the season progressed, Red Bull failed to keep up with their competitors. Red Bull scored just 5 points in the last 10 races, and Toro Rosso – the Red Bull 'B team' – had overhauled their total by the season's end and won the rain-affected Italian Grand Prix, becoming the first Red Bull-owned team to win a race. This fact led many to claim that the Renault engine powering the Red Bull was lacking in horsepower compared to the Ferrari and Mercedes engines. For the 2009 season, Renault was allowed to equalise the difference in engine power compared to their competitors after the single-year freeze in engine development from 2007.
Webber notched up his 50th top ten grid position in 107 Grands Prix at the Spanish Grand Prix. Coulthard announced his retirement from Formula One at the British Grand Prix and, despite hopes for a strong final home Grand Prix, was forced to retire on the first lap, which also occurred at his final race in Brazil where he retired at the second corner.
2009 season
For 2009, Sebastian Vettel joined the team, taking Coulthard's seat. Red Bull Racing launched their new RB5 chassis virtually on 8 February utilising a 3D computer-generated video narrated by Vettel. The physical launch of the car was held the next day. The team secured their first pole position at the Chinese Grand Prix with Sebastian Vettel, posting the fastest time with just a single qualifying lap in Q3. Mark Webber qualified in third on the grid. The next day, Vettel won, with Webber second. Vettel's victory, in rain-soaked conditions, marked Red Bull Racing's first-ever win (although the team's predecessor, Stewart GP, had won the 1999 European Grand Prix courtesy of Johnny Herbert).
In the next race at Bahrain after qualifying 3rd, Vettel finished second behind Jenson Button and collected another eight world championship points. At the Spanish Grand Prix, Webber and Vettel finished third and fourth respectively, after having qualified fifth and second. In Turkey, Webber and Vettel finished second and third respectively. At the British Grand Prix the car had new upgrades and Sebastian Vettel won after qualifying on pole position, ending championship leader Jenson Button's run of four straight wins. The team scored another 1–2 at the German Grand Prix with Mark Webber (who scored his first win despite being given a drive-through penalty earlier on) leading home Sebastian Vettel. Mark Webber also took his second Formula One victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Another 1–2 finish for the team was achieved at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, this time with Vettel finishing ahead of Webber.
Vettel finished second in the Drivers' Championship with 84 points, 11 behind Jenson Button. Mark Webber finished fourth with 69.5 points. The team also finished second in the Constructors' Championship with 153.5 points, 18.5 points behind Brawn GP.
2010 season
For the 2010 season, the team retained both Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, with Renault remaining the engine supplier.
At the opening round, the Bahrain Grand Prix, Vettel took pole position while Webber qualified sixth. Vettel led the race until he slowed due to a spark-plug failure, while the two Ferraris and Lewis Hamilton overtook Vettel. Vettel finished fourth, and Webber finished eighth.
In Australia, Vettel again took pole, with Webber in the second position. Vettel led the race and again looked set to take the race, but he reported a vibration of one of the front wheels on his car. The problem seemed to subside, and the decision was made to keep him on the track rather than pit him. A few corners later, the problem struck again, and Vettel ran off the track and subsequently retired, due to brake failure. Webber got wheelspin off the line and gave up one position on the run to the first right-handed corner. Subsequent errors led to him dropping a few more places, and near the end of the race, he crashed with Hamilton, destroying his front wing. He pitted to get a new one, and finished ninth, scoring two points.
In Malaysia, Webber took pole with Vettel in the third position. Vettel managed to pass both Nico Rosberg and Webber before the first corner, leading for all bar two laps en route to his and the team's first victory of the year. Webber led the other two laps and eventually finished second, with the team moving up into third in the Constructors' Championship.
The team once again scored pole position in China, when Vettel managed to set a faster time than Webber, who completed the front row. Webber overtook Vettel at the start, but both were overtaken by Fernando Alonso, who was later given a penalty for a false start. The race was then hit by rain and Jenson Button made the best strategy call and won the race, Vettel finished sixth whilst Webber was eighth. This left Vettel and Webber fifth and seventh in the Drivers' Championship respectively, and the team in third in the Constructors' Championship.
At the Spanish Grand Prix the two drivers were the other way around, with Webber on pole position and Vettel second on the grid. Webber won the race without too much trouble. Vettel, however, suffered brake problems and dropped to fourth – this became third when Hamilton had a puncture and crashed from second on the penultimate lap.
Webber took pole position again at the Monaco Grand Prix; Vettel qualified third behind Renault's Robert Kubica, but overtook him at the start. Webber won the race and Vettel finished in second place.
This brought both drivers to 78 points, with Webber in the championship lead by countback after being in seventh after China. The team was leading the Constructors' Championship.
At the Turkish Grand Prix, Webber again took pole position, taking the team's run of pole positions to seven consecutive races, with Vettel third on the grid. Webber and Vettel were running first and second on lap 40 when Vettel attempted to overtake Webber, leading to a collision between the two. Webber finished third, while Vettel was forced to retire. Neither driver took 100% of responsibility for the incident, while senior members of the team implied that Webber had not provided "enough room" for Vettel.
In Canada, Hamilton took pole position – the first non-Red Bull pole of the year. Webber and Vettel were second and third respectively in qualifying before the pair finished fourth and fifth in the race. The team admitted that it was a track that the car struggled with.
At the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain, Vettel won from pole position, leading every lap of the race. Webber collided with the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen, flipping his Red Bull car into a somersault before landing and crashing into a tyre barrier.
At the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Vettel took pole position but after a bad start, he got a puncture and subsequently dropped to the back of the field, eventually finishing seventh. Webber, who started from second, won after leading for the entire race.
Vettel qualified in pole position in front of the two Ferraris in Germany, but finished his home race behind the pair in third place. Webber qualified in fourth but finished in sixth behind both the McLaren cars. During the race Felipe Massa controversially let Fernando Alonso past into the lead to win the race after a message from the team. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: "That was the most blatant team order ever". He also criticised Ferrari for not letting their drivers race each other.
At the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest, Vettel again took pole position and was leading until the safety car came out. He was second behind Webber, who started second and was then given a drive-through penalty for exceeding the ten-car maximum distance between himself and the safety car. This cost him second place and he finished third. Webber won the race after using his super-soft tyres for over half the race to build up a lead to keep him ahead after his stop. Webber won with Fernando Alonso ten seconds behind in second place.
The Belgian Grand Prix saw Webber claim pole position, despite McLaren and Ferrari having a straight-line speed advantage. At the start, the anti-stall device on Webber's car came on, dropping the Australian to 5th. Vettel, meanwhile in 3rd (after starting 4th) was chasing Jenson Button for 2nd place when he collided with the Brit at the Bus Stop. After sensing an inside passing opportunity, Vettel attempted to quickly change direction while under braking, causing the car to spear into the side of Button's McLaren. Button retired from the race, while Vettel was able to pit for repairs. He subsequently received a drive-through penalty for his action and suffered a rear tyre puncture while attempting to overtake Vitantonio Liuzzi, finishing 15th. Webber was able to capitalise on the DNF of Button and Alonso, as well as a mistake by Renault's Robert Kubica, during his pit stop, and finish 2nd, behind race winner Hamilton.
At the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, Webber had a bad start and was 9th from 4th place on the grid after the first lap. Vettel had brake binding problems for a short period, around lap 20, and he too dropped back a place but was then back on the pace. Webber was held back by Nico Hülkenberg in the latter part of the race, until he passed, and finished 6th. Vettel stayed out on soft tyres until the penultimate lap, doing better lap times than Webber and overtaking Mark when he pitted, to finish fourth.
Corporate information
Image and marketing
Red Bull has been very vocal about wanting to make Formula One "fun" again. They aimed to accomplish this by employing Mark Gallagher, who was head of marketing for nine years at Jordan. Red Bull also started The Red Bulletin, a sports and adventure magazine that is released four times per race weekend and distributed to the paddock and members of the public from behind the main grandstand at each track.
In the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix, they supported the movie Superman Returns, which continues the line of marketing events begun by the Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith promotion of 2005 (in the 2005 race, the pit crew dressed up as clone troopers) and the Ocean's Twelve promotion of 2004, as well as Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines promotion of 2003 when the team ran under the Jaguar Racing banner. When Coulthard finished third in the 2006 race, he donned a Superman cape for his appearance on the podium.
In the 2019 British Grand Prix, 007 logos were used in the livery to replace the Aston Martin logos, to celebrate the 1007th Grand Prix. The cars also had Bond-themed number plates on the underside of their rear wings. Max Verstappen had the number plate from the Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger (BMT 216A) while Pierre Gasly's car featured the Aston Martin V8 plate (B549 WUU) from The Living Daylights. Both drivers wore special racing overalls with a print of a single-breasted dinner suit. The 007 logo was first used during their race as Jaguar in the 2002 season to promote Die Another Day.
At the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed, Red Bull celebrated its 20th year as a racing team by bringing together past and present drivers for celebrations, including: a parade of Red Bull Formula One cars driven by those drivers, team lead Christian Horner and technical director Adrian Newey; an on-site Red Bull 'Energy Station' with displays and a press and fan meeting place; and photo-ops, including a group photo of Horner and Newey with Red Bull Academy Programme / F1 Academy-championship driver Hamda Al Qubaisi (2023– ) and RBR Formula One drivers David Coulthard (2005–2008), Christian Klien (2005–2006), Mark Webber (2007–2013), Daniel Ricciardo (2014–2018), Max Verstappen (2016– ) and Sergio Perez (2021–2024).
Finances
Red Bull Racing had revenue of $285.4 million and expenses of $284.4 million in 2011. The revenue came from prize money ($88.8 million), sponsors ($59.7 million), and the remainder from Red Bull. Expenses included $112.8 million in research and development and $82.7 million in salaries for 605 employees.
Red Bull Technology
Red Bull Technology Limited, previously Red Bull Racing Holdings Limited, is the parent company of Red Bull Racing set up to design, engineer, and build the cars for its Formula One team, and previously its sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso. Red Bull Technology was regarded as a loop-hole to allow Red Bull to run two teams with the same car from 2007, which had been prohibited in Formula One since the 1980s. Complaints were issued to the FIA from rival teams, but they were discarded by the sport's governing body. Neither Red Bull Racing nor Scuderia Toro Rosso denied they ran fundamentally the same chassis, but claimed the separate development programs, different engines and in their opinion that the chassis was designed by neither team made it legal.
The regulations were changed in 2010 to forbid the use of identical cars between teams, and Toro Rosso no longer had its cars produced by Red Bull Technology. Since then the team indigenously designed and built their cars, having built the necessary infrastructure in-house.
Red Bull Technology also partnered Scuderia Toro Rosso, later Scuderia AlphaTauri and Visa Cash App RB as their transmission partner and supplier from 2006 onwards, and KERS partner and supplier from 2012 to 2013. They also served Team Lotus, later Caterham F1 as transmission supplier from 2011 to 2014 and KERS supplier from 2012 to 2013.
Red Bull Technology uses rFactor Pro driving simulation software.
Red Bull Advanced Technologies
Red Bull Advanced Technologies Limited (RBAT) is owned by Red Bull GmbH and serves as the commercial technology and engineering services arm of Red Bull Racing. The company is based in the United Kingdom, in a dedicated facility, adjacent to the Red Bull Racing Formula One facilities.
Red Bull Advanced Technologies in collaboration with Aston Martin developed the Aston Martin Valkyrie sports car.
Red Bull Advanced Technologies in a collaborative effort with Dallara and IndyCar, developed the 'aeroscreen' safety device for usage in the IndyCar Series.
Red Bull Advanced Technologies is developing a high-performance three-person submersible for private or research use. Led by Technical Director Rob Gray, the project forms part of RBAT's broader "land, sea, and air" engineering portfolio.
Red Bull Advanced Technologies announced in June 2022 that they were developing a hypercar completely in-house, named the RB17, in line with their Formula One car naming scheme. The car would be designed by Adrian Newey, Chief Technical Officer at Red Bull Racing. Only 50 units are to be made, with production scheduled to begin in 2025. The prototype was revealed to the public at Goodwood Festival of Speed by Oracle Red Bull Racing Team in July 2024.
From Wikipedia’s article on Red Bull Technology, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3