Vital Statistics:
- Founded: 2005
- Based: Milton Keynes, England
- World Constructors' Titles: 0
- World Drivers' Titles: 0
- Grand Prix Victories: 0
- Pole Positions: 0
Christian Horner:
After starting his career as a driver in Formula 3, Christian eventually decided to create a team for himself and found he had more talent as a team director than as a driver. After three years in Formula 3000 his Arden team won the title in 2002, 2003 and 2004. (In 2002 his driver, Tomas Enge, failed a drugs test, however, and lost the drivers' title.) In 2005 Christian moved to Formula 1 to run the new Red Bull Racing team. At only 33 years old, he is the youngest team director and clearly the future of the sport.Adrian Newey:
Adrian is one of the best technical directors and F1 car designers. After success designing March chassis for IndyCar, he made his name in F1 at the Williams, designing the cars that won the world titles of the 1990s. When he left, Williams ceased to win titles. Newey joined McLaren Mercedes in 1997 and McLaren began to win races and titles again. After Newey left McLaren in 2005, last year it failed to win a race for the first time since Newey joined. In 2001, Newey tried to leave McLaren for Jaguar, but did not. Last year he joined the team, now Red Bull, and the 2007 car is his first there.A Brief History:
The base of the team today known as Red Bull Racing began as Stewart Grand Prix in 1997. It was founded and run by triple world champion Jackie Stewart and his son Paul. It won the European Grand Prix of 1999 at the Nurburgring, before Stewart sold the team to the Ford Motor Company, and it raced from 2000 to 2004 under the name Jaguar. Jaguar did not win any races, and in 2005, the team was reborn under the name of the Red Bull energy drink company. Red Bull, based in Austria and founded by Dietrich Mateschitz, uses virtually all of its marketing money to fund athletes and sports teams.More Recent Times:
Although Red Bull finished seventh in the series in both of its first two seasons, it did much better in 2005, scoring 34 points, than in 2006, scoring only 16 points. As Jaguar, the team had also finished seventh from 2002 to 2004. So the injection of Red Bull cash and the new team members have not yet improved the results. In fact, the 2005 car was clearly a better design than the 2006.The Red Bull Context:
Red Bull has brought marketing savvy to Formula 1, having joined the series to show off its sporting image and sell energy drinks. It built the biggest "motor home" in the paddock where it communicates with the press and its sponsors and other clients. It organizes a beauty contest of "Formula Una Girls" at each race. Last season it also started a second team, after buying Minardi and changing the name to Scuderia Toro Rosso. But whether the team can succeed in a sport now dominated by car manufacturers, remains to be seen.The Future:
One of the clearest indications that Red Bull is serious about trying to win races was the hiring of Adrian Newey as technical director last year. The 2007 season is the first with a Newey-designed car, and the team aims for at least fifth place in the championship. The team also dropped the Ferrari engine for the world championship winning Renault engine. With two strong and experienced drivers in David Coulthard and Mark Webber, 2007 will be a key year to see if Red Bull can really be anything other than a second tier team.
