is one of two (along with
Scuderia Toro Rosso )
Formula One teams owned by
Austria n
Beverage company
Red Bull . The team is managed by
Christian Horner , boss of the
Arden International F3000 team.
Red Bull, a large energy drinks company, purchased all assets of the defunct
Jaguar Racing , when the team's parent company
Ford announced their withdrawal from Formula One at the end of the
2004 Season . The deal was announced on
15 November 2004, and the sale price was reputedly as high as $110 million (although some reports suggest Ford gave the team away for free in order to avoid costly obligations in the
Concorde Agreement , which imposes fines on companies that fail to field two cars). The team continued to have access to the
Cosworth engine developed for their
2005 chassis, and the operation continued under the new title.
Red Bull Racing was not the start of Red Bull's involvement in motorsport. Setting up a Formula One team of its own meant that Red Bull had to end its long-term partnership with the
Sauber Formula One team. The drinks company also runs a young drivers programme,
Red Bull Junior Team , whereby Red Bull sponsors promising young drivers. High-profile drivers who have received this backing include
Enrique Bernoldi ,
Christian Klien ,
Patrick Friesacher ,
Vitantonio Liuzzi and
Scott Speed . Red Bull also sponsors many drivers and teams competing in the
GP2 Series , Formula One's "feeder" series.
Red Bull Racing is now seen as politically close to Ferrari (much like
Sauber used to be). It is one of only four teams (the others being Ferrari,
Midland F1 and
WilliamsF1 ) to have signed the
Concorde Agreement beyond
2007 , guaranteeing its long-term involvement in Formula One.
in qualifying at the
2005 United States Grand Prix ]]
Red Bull's owner,
Dietrich Mateschitz , reportedly tried to recruit former Formula One driver and
BMW Motorsport chief (and fellow
Austria n)
Gerhard Berger to help guide the team through its debut season. However, this was never realised. For
2005 , the chassis was christened the . 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 would naturally select a driver from its own driver programme. But there was a problem — which one?
Christian Klien already had his foot in the door, as he drove for Jaguar in
2004 . But Red Bull wanted to promote its other drivers as well, so Klien had to share his car with 2004
F3000 champion
Vitantonio Liuzzi . At first it was announced that Klien and Liuzzi would swap about every few races, but in reality Klien was given far more time in the car than Liuzzi. In line with this trend, Red Bull announced in the off-season that Klien would retain the second race seat for 2006, while Liuzzi will drive for Scuderia Toro Rosso(see below)
Red Bull's first year in Formula 1 has been a massive success, compared to their predecessors Jaguar Racing. They were 6th in the Constructors Championship for most of the time, only beaten by the fast-improving
BAR Honda 's at the end of the season. In a single season they have amassed more points than Jaguar did in 2003 and 2004. Coulthard, after a poor 2003 and 2004 with McLaren proved to be a revelation for the team while Klien showed that he has vastly improved from 2004. In all they collected 34 Points, 24 for Coulthard, 9 for Klien and 1 for Liuzzi. Red Bull has been a consistent points and occasional podium challengers for most of the season.
Another driver that Red Bull wants to promote is the aptly-named
Scott Speed , who rose through the ranks in the American equivalent of Red Bull Junior Team,
Red Bull Driver Search . The promising
American driver has impressed onlookers with his performances in
GP2 (although he is yet to win a race). Speed is also attractive to Red Bull because he is an American, which could increase the profile of both Red Bull and Formula One in America, a market where the sport has struggled to make an impact. Speed was Red Bull Racing's
Third Driver in 2005 for the Canadian and United States Grand Prix, and has also been confirmed as Liuzzi's partner at Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2006.
On
23 April 2005, the team announced a deal to use
Ferrari engines in
2006 . This coincides with a rule change mandating the use of
V8 Engine s, making it likely that both Red Bull Racing and Ferrari will be using the same specification engine. Red Bull Racing will continue to use
Michelin tyres.
In the autumn of 2005, Red Bull announced that they had purchased the
Minardi Formula One team, and it shall be known as
Scuderia Toro Rosso (Italian for ''Red Bull Stable'') from 2006 onwards. Scuderia Toro Rosso will operate as a separate team, using a chassis based upon last year's Red Bull Racing RB1 Chassis, limited
V10 Cosworth engine and
Michelin Tyres. The team is expected to be used as a 'B' team, so that Red Bull is able to work with and develop more drivers than is possible for Red Bull Racing alone.
Arguably Red Bull Racing's most significant move since the team's inception was the
November 8 2005 poaching of highly successful technical director
Adrian Newey from
McLaren .
On
December 15 2005 the team's second car, the
Red Bull Racing 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 thing." In early testing Red Bull was plagued with cooling problems and overheating of car components, but it has appeared on recent tests that those problems have been done away with.
At the opening race of the 2006 season in
Bahrain the team returned with a strong showing. Unlike 2005, it was
Christian Klien who outshone Coulthard, qualifying an impressive eighth (ahead of
Giancarlo Fisichella 's Renault and both BMWs), he ran seventh for much of the race but was passed in the closing stages by
Nico Rosberg . Coulthard had problems when he flat spotted a tyre fighting with
Nick Heidfeld , and finished 10th, but 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 an impressive start from the back of the grid but was forced to retire with hydraullic problems,while Klien had an opening lap incident with Kimi Raikkonen,forcing both of them to retire.
Red Bull have been very vocal about wanting to make F1 'fun' again. One way in which they went about doing that was by employing Mark Gallagher, who was head of marketing at Jordan for nine years. Jordan were once considered to be an exciting brand, although in recent years they had fallen behind on that front. Red Bull also started
The Red Bulletin , a satirical magazine released four times per race weekend and made available to members of the paddock.
