The secrets behind the Red Bull story
When Jaguar Racing was sold to Dietrich Mateschitz’s drinks company in 2004, who would have thought the product with the company slogan “gives you wings” would be leading both the Formula One drivers’ and constructors’ championships?
That is exactly what Red Bull are doing this season in Formula One, and as the pacesetters they are leaving the established teams of Ferrari, the most successful team in Formula One, and McLaren behind them.
Red Bull have been involved in motorsports for many years, sponsoring the Sauber F1 team as well as GP2 teams, Formula One’s feeder series. They also have a Red Bull Junior Team scheme which sponsors up-and-coming drivers, the likes of Vitantonio Liuzzi and Christian Klien just some of the drivers. The acquisition of Jaguar was Red Bull’s time to go it alone and become a Formula One team. They were a team branded the most unreliable in Formula One in 2007. Now, they are potential world champions.
What are the secrets behind their success over the last two seasons? Undoubtedly Red Bull has drawn together a management team with a real Formula One pedigree who seized the opportunity when it was presented. The 2009 regulations changed everything as Formula One started for the first time on a level playing field.
Aerodynamic regulations made the cars unrecognisable from the 2008 season and this gave Red Bull’s chief technical director Adrian Newey the opportunity to design his own car and obtain the edge over his competitors. The RB5 ran Brawn GP very close last season as they finished second in the constructors’ championship, and picked up six race victories.
The man who has overseen Red Bull’s current Formula One success, Christian Horner, became team principal of Red Bull in 2005 and at the age of 31 was the youngest to head a team in Formula One.
Horner had been a racing driver, competing in Formula Three and Formula Two. In 1997 he founded Arden International Racing when he made the move to Formula 3000, but then decided he wasn’t suited to driving, and at the end of that season he decided to run the team and stop racing. The team endured a few barren seasons, and had a world title stripped from them in 2002 after their driver Tomas Enge had failed a drugs test.
Horner’s reward came in 2004 as Arden dominated the season, winning the drivers’ and constructors’ championships, with Liuzzi as champion. With this success, Red Bull recruited him in 2005 and he masterminded Red Bull’s first podium at the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix with David Coulthard finishing in third.
Horner has the ability to nurture his drivers and man-manage them with great effect. Recruiting the Scotsman as the lead driver was the start of building up the team to be a potent force, and its strength was further bolstered when, in 2007, Horner convinced Mark Webber to leave WilliamsF1. When Coulthard retired in 2008, Horner snapped up young German Sebastian Vettel from Toro Rosso.
Alongside Horner is Newey, who arrived at Red Bull along with a phenomenal record in Formula One. Newey’s record in Formula One is phenomenal. In the 1990s, with both WilliamsF1 and McLaren, he designed a car that won six out of 10 constructors’ titles, and propelled Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve and Mika Hakkinen to drivers’ world titles. Newey delivered Red Bull’s first race win at the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix with Vettel leading teammate Webber to a one-two finish.
The drivers have to be given a huge amount of credit as well. They are playing their part in the current Red Bull show, with Vettel and Webber inspiring one another to victory. Webber has shown that he is capable of becoming world champion after winning for consecutive weekends at Spain and Monaco in dominating fashion. Vettel is also showing that he is championship material, as he finished second to Jenson Button last season and would have won the world championship but for the reliability issues that he incurred. Webber has now won two races compared to Vettel’s one as Red Bull have also taken six out of six pole positions, with both drivers having three each. They are also co-leading the drivers’ standings.
The frightening prospect for the oppositions is that Red Bull have more developments coming to the car for the next grand prix in Turkey.
With Horner on the pit wall, Newey working hard to bring new developments to the racing car, and Webber and Vettel spurring each other on, the ingredients are there for a double success at the end of the season.
The Red Bull is definitely on the charge.
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