Get to Know F1 Teams: Red Bull

 Hi, this week I'm introducing Red Bull Racing.

Red Bull Racing was founded in 2005 after Red Bull bought Jaguar.

Red Bull is based in Milton Keynes, England, UK.

The current team members:

Team Principal- Christian Horner

Advisor to Red Bull GmbH- Helmut Marko

Chief Technical Officer- Adrian Newey

Technical Director- Pierre Wache 

Drivers- Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez

Founder- Dietrich Mateschitz 

History.

The current Red Bull team can trace 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 and Ford made the decision to rebrand the team Jaguar Racing with little subsequent success over the next five years. The Jaguar Racing Formula One constructor and racing team 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 F1". Red Bull, an energy drinks company, agreed its purchase of Jaguar Racing on the final day of the sale, 15 November 2004. BBC Sports 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.

Red Bull Racing was not the start of Red Bull's involvement in Formula One, as they sponsored Sauber from 1995 to 2004. After buying a Formula One team of its own, Red Bull ended its long-term partnership with the Swiss team. Red Bull 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 Formula 2 Championship, Formula One's "feeder" series.

Red Bull's owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, reportedly tried to recruit former Formula One driver and BMW Motorsport (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.

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 Bridgestone used by Ferrari. On 8 November 2005, Red Bull Racing hired Adrian Newey, the highly successful McLaren technical director. 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. In early testing Red Bull was plagued with cooling problems and overheating of car components. The team finished 7th in the FIA Constructors' Championship, with 16 points, five points ahead of the struggling Williams team. David 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 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 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 David 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.

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 Sebastien Beumi would be their test and reserve driver for 2008 combining it with his GP2 drive with the Arden International GP2 team.

For 2009, Red Bull Racing launched their new RB5 chassis virtually on 8 February utilising a 3D computer-generated video narrated by Sebastian 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).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.

For 2010, in the final race at Abu Dhabi, Sebastian Vettel won the race and the Formula 1 Drivers' Championship. Red Bull finished the year with a total of 9 Grand Prix victories with five going to Sebastian Vettel and four going to Mark Webber. Red Bull claimed a total of 15 pole positions with 10 going to Vettel and five going to Webber. The team scored six fastest laps three scored by Vettel and three scored by Webber. Horner also praised the sportsmanship of both drivers stating that they conducted themselves in a well orderly and mannered fashion.

Red Bull Racing was officially promoted to Renault's full-works partnership status, receiving free engines as Renault's full-works constructor team was rebranded to Lotus Renault Grand Prix. Both Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were retained by the team for the 2011 season, as was engine supplier Renault. Vettel defended his world title – becoming the ninth driver to do so – after winning eleven of the season's races, and also achieved 15 pole positions during the season, breaking Nigel Mansell's record from the 1992 season. Webber finished the season in third place in the championship, taking one victory, in the final race of the season in Brazil. The team also defended their respective title, as they finished the season with 650 points in the Constructors' Championship, 153 points ahead of the next closest team, McLaren. Nissan's premium automotive brand Infiniti joined Red Bull Racing as an official partner for the 2011 and 2012 seasons which saw Infiniti logos appear on the race car, drivers overalls and team kit.

For the 2012 season, Red Bull retained the duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber from the previous three years. Webber was signed on a one-year contract extension while Vettel continued under his current multi-year agreement, ending at the end of 2014. Vettel won the Drivers' Championship for a third consecutive time in 2012 making him the youngest triple World Champion, surpassing Ayrton Senna.

At the Italian Grand Prix, Vettel secured the team's 50th pole position, and 40th Grand Prix victory. At the Indian Grand prix, Vettel sealed the Drivers' Championship title, and in doing so, won the Constructors' Championship for Infiniti Red Bull Racing for the fourth consecutive year. Sebastian Vettel broke Michael Schumacher's 7 consecutive win in a season, Vettel won 9 in a row.

At the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Verstappen took pole position, his first since Austin. He secured his first world title and a first championship for the team since 2013 with a last lap overtake on Hamilton.

Following Honda's withdrawal as a works entity after 2021, an engine development freeze lobbied by Red Bull allowed them to sign a deal with Honda to use their engines until the end of 2024. To maintain the engines, they formed a company named Red Bull Powertrains Limited and took over part of Honda's Milton Keynes facility. Despite their withdrawal, Honda will develop and manufacture a power unit for the 2022 season – which will then be used up to the end of 2024 – and offer assistance. The Honda-Red Bull deal was later extended to 2025.Software company Oracle became the team's title sponsor for the season.

At the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, the team set the world record for the world's fastest pitstop with a time of 1.82 seconds while servicing Max Verstappen, it is a record they still hold as of February 2022.

As a constructor, Red Bull Racing have achieved the following statistics:

• Constructors' Championships winning percentage: 23.5%
• Drivers' Championships winning percentage: 29.4%
• Winning percentage: 22.9%

Drivers' Champions

Sebastian Vettel (2010-2013)

Max Verstappen (2021)