Red Bull Racing is one of the most prominent Formula 1 teams at the moment that has its operations based at Milton Keynes in England but the license that it operates with, is Austrian, which is the home of the Red Bull Energy Drink brand. It is the sister team of the Scuderia Toro Rosso, which is another team that is owned by the beverage company that is registered as Red Bull GmbH. Over the last couple of seasons, the team is having an extended run of successes, something that has culminated into two constructors’ championships in the 2009-2010 season as well as the 2010-2011 season, which is yet to concluded, but the team is so far ahead in terms of championship points that no other team can catch it with only two races remaining. When Red Bull Racing won the constructors’ title last season, it became the first and only team so far to win the constructors’ title with an Austrian license.
Moreover, the team also boasts of the best young driver the sport has seen in many years, almost since the rise of Michael Schumacher in Sebastian Vettel. It was mainly due to championship winning efforts of Vettel that the team was able to win the constructors’ title so easily, as he went on to become the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history last season. This season also saw Vettel becoming the champion with races to spare. Along with Australian hard man Mark Webber, the team perhaps has the best driver combination on the grid and this combination of Webber and Vettel has seen the team gather 36 pole positions and 26 race victories in the last two seasons.
The origins of Red Bull Racing can be traced back to the Stewart Grand Prix, a racing team owned by Formula 1 legend Jackie Stewart who saw his team hit the tracks in 1997. But with little success over the years, he sold the team to Ford and thus was born the Jaguar Racing Team. In November 2004, a deal was reached between Red Bull GmbH and Ford Motors to sell the Jaguar team to the company which was then rebranded as Red Bull Racing. Although it was still using the Cosworth engines for that season, it would subsequently change to Ferrari engines and with a lot of research work put into the designing of chassis and their own engines, Red Bull Racing has become a force to be reckoned with.
Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel has opened the doors for former Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen to join him at the team by saying that he would not be bothered with the Finn as his teammate. Sebastian Vettel has encountered several problems with his teammate Mark Webber, who is widely expected to leave the team at the end of the season. There have been several possible rumours about the next teammate for the three-time F1 world Champion. He has said that Raikkonen would be a perfect fit for Red Bull, but he does not care about his teammate because he only wants to win more than anything else.
Vettel disobeyed team orders to overtake Webber at the Malaysian Grand Prix. This has led to a lot of tension between the pair, who have experienced similar incidents in the past. However, it is thought that Wenger has reluctantly stayed at Red Bull knowing that he may not have a better chance of winning races at other teams. He is also coming to the end of his F1 career as well. However, this season is expected to be his final with Red Bull, as he is out of contract at the end of the season. Raikkonen has been doing extremely well with Lotus this season.
“I don’t care who my teammate is. If you want to win, you have to beat everyone. But if Kimi was my teammate: fine! We have no problem with each other and we’re mature enough to deal with it even in a difficult situation. I get along well with him. He’s just very honest. There’s no bullshit with him,” said Vettel. “We trust each other in a duel to not do anything stupid. We’re both open and honest. If we were to crash, we would probably complain about each other,” said Raikkonen.
The former Renault boss Flavio Briatore has said that Red Bull will not be able to sustain the pair of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel for long. The two drivers have been not having healthy relationship for the last couple of years. The relationship between them decorated completely after the Malaysian Grand Prix in which the German driver Sebastian Vettel ignored the team orders to overtake Webber in the final few laps of the race. Briatore is a well-known figure in the career of Mark Webber, as he was the manager for a long time.
He has said that both drivers are extremely competitive, but the Australian is left extremely unhappy at the immature actions of the 25-year-old three-time world champion. Webber has been at Red Bull on a rolling contract basis, and his current contract expires at the end of the season. Briatore has said that he does not see the 36-year-old Australian staying at Red Bull beyond the season. Briatore has said that Webber and Vettel decided to continue in the same team – even though they did not get along with each other – because the car was extremely good. Red Bull clearly have the best car on the grid, and both drivers are willing to part ways with the team.
“That’s for sure. Last year, already, there were problems. Their car is very competitive so drivers want to stay there, but [Sepang] was proof that no one is in charge at Red Bull. Vettel is the boss there. You can’t have a team manager also doing the driving. I think there’s no relationship anymore. Vettel says he will help Mark, but Mark doesn’t need any help. He should have won the race, and it’s possible that Vettel will win every other race,” said the former Renault boss after the Malaysian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull racing team principal Christian Horner has said that the team has not been experiencing a lot of pressure due to the success that they achieved in the last three seasons. Red Bull have been the dominant force in F1 over the last three or four seasons. This has in turn helped the team win several constructors championship title, while also helping Sebastian Vettel to win three world championship titles consecutively. The McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh recently revealed that Red Bull are the only exception to the norm of F1 teams losing money in the current economic climate.
Red Bull have managed to win both the titles – driver’s and constructor’s – on offer in the last three seasons. They have comfortably overshadowed the likes of McLaren and Ferrari in all departments. Horner has said that the six titles achieved in the last three years has helped lift pressure off the team ahead of the new season. The only pressure on the team is the pressure that they put on themselves in order to match those achievements of previous years. Horner has also rejected speculation that the hunger and desire within the team has reduced slightly due to the recent successes.
“In many respects the pressure is off us because we’ve achieved a triple double World Championship. Nobody can take that away from us, that’s in the history books. But we put the pressure on ourselves because we want to continue that run of success. Of course, going into the season as reigning champions, you’re there to be beaten, you’re there to be shot at. But it’s something we’ve got used to over the last couple of years. Pressure is part of this business, it’s part of this sport,” said the team principal in an interview given to the Sky Sports.
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November 7, 2011 5:52 pm | 
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