Red Bull Racing F1 Team
Still a relatively new to the F1 racing scene, the Red Bull F1 Racing Team is one of two teams owned by Red Bull. Red Bull is an Austrian beverage company which focuses on the sale of an energy drink said to boost energy and mental vitality. It enjoys a good global marketing campaign and is known for sponsoring and supporting adrenaline-pumping sporting activities around the globe. The Red Bull Racing team is currently managed by Christian Horner and is set to give up their British flag soon in favour of an Austrian one.
The team started when Red Bull made the decision to purchase Jaguar Racing at the end of the 2004 racing season. Up until that stage, Red Bull had been in a long-term partnership with the Sauber Formula One team. This partnership was broken with the establishment of the new team. Red Bull is dedicated to their F1 team and also to the development of the sport as a whole. The company currently also owns the Toro Rosso team for the development of promising F1 drivers and the Red Bull Junior Team for the development of young drivers. Red Bull Racing also reached a political high-ground with the signing of the Concorde Agreement which will come into effect in 2008. Thus far only four teams have signed this agreement which commits to long-term involvement in the sport.
Red Bull Racing made their debut in the 2005 racing season with David Coulthard in the driving seat. Backing him up in the team’s second car was Christian Klien, who had driven for Jaguar during the previous year, and Vitantonio Liuzzi. By the end of the year it was decided that Liuzzi should drive for the Scuderia Toro Rosso team while Klien would remain with the Red Bull Racing team. In their first year they came sixth in the Constructors Championship and their final number of points outshone Jaguar’s performance over the past two years combined. They even contended for a place on the podium for much of their debut season. In 2006 the team made the decision to switch to Ferrari engines which would help them comply with a rule change mandating the use of V8 engines. 2006 also saw McLaren’s technical director, Adrian Newey, join the ranks of the team, which finished the season 7th in the FIA Constructors Championship, with driver David Coulthard finishing in 13th place.
Having used Ferrari engines in 2006, Red Bull Racing passed the Ferrari contract to Scuderia Toro Rosso, and took the decision to use Renault engines for the 2007 F1 Championships season. Principle drivers for 2007 were David Coulthard and Mark Webber, with Robert Doornbos as the third driver for the team. Despite some problems with the team’s cars during the season, it finished in 5th place in the 2007 FIA Constructors Championship. Using the same drivers in 2008, Red Bull Racing saw one of its driver’s up on the winning podium again when David Coulthard took third place in Canada. However, the team started questioning the wisdom of changing over to Renault engines, especially when the Red Bull ‘B’ Team with their Ferrari-powered cars passed them in points by the season’s end.
The 2009 season started off better for Red Bull Racing as Sebastian Vettel won the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix, with Mark Webber taking second place in their Renault-powered RB5 cars. The team followed up with points victories at the Spanish, Turkish, British, German, Brazilian and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix events, finishing in 2nd place in the FIA Constructors Championships. The 2010 F1 Grand Prix Championships saw Vettel taking the World Championship for the Red Bull Racing F1 team.