Category: Red Bull Racing

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Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2014 Chinese GP: Qualifying report

2014 Chinese Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton made light work of the wet conditions to comfortably claim pole position at the Chinese Grand Prix yesterday. It’s his third pole position for the year and his 34th career pole, a new British record.

Hamilton’s time (1:53.860) was almost six tenths faster than Daniel Ricciardo’s best lap (1:54.455), who outqualified Sebastian Vettel (1:54.960) for the third time in four races. Vettel will start from P3, alongside Nico Rosberg (1:55.143).

Former teammates Fernando Alonso (1:55.637) and Felipe Massa (1:56.147) will line up on the third row, ahead of Valtteri Bottas (1:56.282) and Nico Hulkenberg (1:56.366).

The top 10 is rounded out by the Renault-powered duo of  Jean-Eric Vergne (1:56.773) and Romain Grosjean (1:57.079).

McLaren will be wondering where its pre-season pace has gone, only able to qualify in P12 (Jenson Button) and P15 (Kevin Magnussen).

Technical problems prevented Pastor Maldonado from setting a time in Q1 and he will start from the rear of the grid at the stewards’ discretion. Given he has a five-place grid penalty for flipping Esteban Gutierrez at the last race it would spice things up a little if the stewards said, “No race for you!”

Weather conditions for the race are expected to be cool and dry, which should see Mercedes increase its advantage over the Red Bulls who need rain to have any chance of closing the gap over a full race distance.

The full post-quali press conference transcript can be read below and Sebastian Vettel’s response to having a “more competitive teammate” is worth a read.

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing Video

Austria’s next top model

Paul Bischof, Red Bull Racing

Austrian twentysomething Paul Bischof is a bit like you and me. He’s a car geek. And he likes Formula 1. But Paul is a bit different, too, and takes his interest in cars to a totally new level. Way beyond the scope most of us can even think of.

He makes 1:10 scale models of racing cars from paper. For example, he made a Red Bull RB7 replica, which consists of around 6500 parts. That’s right, from paper!

He had no idea at the time, but his RB7 model turned out be the best job interview he ever did. This is his story, and you watch the video after the break.

[Thanks to Tiaan for the tip]

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Red Bull loses Ricciardo appeal

2014 Australian Grand Prix

Red Bull Racing’s presentation to the International Court of Appeal has failed and Daniel Ricciardo’s disqualification from the Australian Grand Prix for his car exceeding the maximum fuel flow rate will stand.

The FIA has released a brief statement, which can be read below, and says full details will be published later this week.

At this stage there appears to be no further sanction for Ricciardo or Red Bull.

This result was expected and while Red Bull’s defence had merit, it was always undermined by the fact that the team was warned by FIA stewards during the race that Daniel’s car was in breach of the regulations. When you’re given an opportunity to right a perceived wrong by the referee and you ignore it you can’t really expect them to pretend it didn’t happen.

Red Bull’s statement can be read below, after the the FIA press release.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Horner praises Ricciardo’s “brilliant” start

2014 Malaysian Grand Prix

It could be argued that the start to Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull career should read second, fourth, fourth. That would have netted him a total of 42 championship points and placed him third in the title race behind the Mercedes pairing of Rosberg and Hamilton.

As it stands it’s only Daniel’s well earned fourth placed finish in Bahrain last weekend which he has to show for an otherwise impressive start to the 2014 F1 season. He’s shown great raw pace, often pushing the faster Mercedes drivers, as well as proving on track that he’s in no way intimidated by his teammate Sebastian Vettel.

Ricciardo has impressed his immediate boss Christian Horner, too.

“He has been brilliant,” said Horner. “From first practice in Australia he has been right there, driving extremely well, enjoying it, and he’s always got a smile on his face, whether things are good or bad.

“And his racing, if anybody had any question marks over his ability to move forward through the field, he has demonstrated he is right up there with the best.”

Horner added Daniel’s time with an under resourced HRT and under performing Toro Rosso may have hidden his abilities.

“Sometimes equipment does mask the potential of these guys,” explained Horner. “We knew he was good through what we saw in the testing he did with us, and in the simulator, but how good we weren’t quite sure.

“But he’s demonstrated he is absolutely top drawer.”

[Source: Sporting Life | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Caterham F1 in pictures Ferrari Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Toro Rosso

2014 Bahrain Grand Prix in pictures

2014 Bahrain Grand Prix

It took almost 58 years for Mercedes to repeat its 1-2 podium result from 1955. And after doing so in Malaysia last week it took just seven days to do it all over again in Bahrain, a world away from the era Juan Manuel Fangio once ruled.

Lewis Hamilton collected his second win on the bounce and it seems the only thing that can stop the two Mercedes AMG drivers will be each other. If they keep up that spectacular on track dicing it won’t be too long until the pair come to blows.

After the break you can relive the first night time race in Bahrain and the 900th grand prix of the modern era.

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Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2014 Bahrain GP: Qualifying report

2014 Bahrain Grand Prix

In a bit of a rush this morning so here’s your concise quali report.

Nico is on pole, he was faster than Lewis. Oh yeah, it was dry for a change, too. And hot presumably. The race is in Bahrain after all.

Daniel out qualified Sebastian, who didn’t even make it into Q3. That’s awesome for Daniel. Less awesome is the fact Dan will be start from P13 thanks to that wheelnut cowboy from Malaysia last weekend.

The second row now reads Valtteri and Sergio. That’s pretty cool.

Kimi, Jenson, Felipe, Kevin, Fernando and Sebastian round out the top 10.

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Formula 1 Porsche Red Bull Racing Video WEC

Mark Webber talks about career, past and present

Mark Webber

The chaps at XCAR films managed to get Mark Webber to spend some time in front of the camera during last week’s WEC test at Paul Ricard. They got him talking about his career and a few other bits and pieces.

We learn how Mark got started, hear about his departure from Formula 1 and what he’s looking forward to with Porsche.

One thing we were surprised to learn is how low Mark’s heart rate is during race conditions, especially in the 919. He is ice cool!

[Thanks to Tiaan for the tip]

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing Renault

Red Bull threatens to throw French toys from cot

2014 Malaysian Grand Prix

We’re just two races into the 2014 F1 season and already it’s clear that the Renault V6 power unit is the third of the three engine options available. And when you’ve got four constructors’ championship behind you you’re used to being the best. Right now Red Bull is not happy with its lot in this new V6 power unit era.

Predictably, then, Helmut Marko is throwing his weight around demanding Renault lifts its game, or else!

“If there is no noticeable improvement in two or three months, we will definitely be talking about an alternative,” Marko revealed in an interview with German publication Bild.

At this stage that’s a clear nod towards the Mercedes-Benz PU 106 A Hybrid which has so far proved to be the weapon of choice in 2014.

In order to try and fast track Renault’s work on its V6 power unit Red Bull has sent a representative each from Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso inside the French manufacturer’s F1 factory at Viry.

Red Bull has been using Renault engines since 2007.

[Source: The F1 Times | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Caterham F1 in pictures Ferrari Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Toro Rosso

2014 Malaysian Grand Prix in pictures

2014 Malaysian Grand Prix

Can you believe it’s over 58 years since we saw a Mercedes driver on steps one and two of a Formula 1 podium, that was at the final race of the 1955 season, the Italian Grand Prix.

Back in 1955 Mercedes won 70% of the races in the season and Juan Manuel Fangio won the third of his five world championships. The mighty W196 silver arrow was powered by 2.5 litre straight eight producing 220kW at 8500rpm.

Now, some 21,386 days after the last Mercedes 1-2, the podium feat has been repeated. Not at a legendary racetrack in Europe, but in Malaysia. Using a 1.6 litre turbocharged V6 engine mated to an arsenal of energy recovery systems that would make Fangio’s head spin. That’s if he knew what the hell it all meant in the first place.

At least we know Juan Manuel would have loved logging into AUSmotive to relive the race in pictorial form. And that’s what you can do after the break as well.

“What’s that Juan; how can you see all these photos?”

“It’s called the internet.”

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Would Red Bull really drop the Ricciardo appeal?

Daniel Ricciardo and Helmut Marko

In the build up to the Malaysian Grand Prix Sebastian Vettel was asked to describe the sound of the new V6 power units. His reply: “It’s shit”. This comment could land him in hot water with the FIA via a disrepute charge.

What’s that got to do with Daniel Ricciardo and the appeal—due to be heard on 14 April—to have his disqualification from the Australian Grand Prix overturned? There’s been a suggestion that Red Bull could drop the appeal in a deal with the FIA which could see Vettel escape sanction for his comment.

In his column for The Sunday Times British journalist Mark Hughes said: “Threatening to punish Vettel for his negative comments could conceivably be used as leverage by the FIA to convince his team to withdraw their appeal.

“[Jean] Todt was dismayed that the World Champion should be so publicly critical. During the era of Todt’s predecessor, Max Mosley, occasional use was made of article 151c of the regulations—bringing the sport into disrepute—to quell dissent. This is not Todt’s style, though the regulation provides an underlying threat to Vettel and Red Bull.”

We couldn’t care less what happens to Vettel, aside from the belief that his comment was pretty harmless and he should be free to air his views. However, we would care a lot if Red Bull chose to drop its appeal on Ricciardo’s behalf in order to protect Vettel.

We can’t imagine they would be that piss weak.

[Source: Sky Sports F1 | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images | Thanks to John for the tip]

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Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2014 Malaysian GP: Post-race press conference

2014 Malaysian Grand Prix

Here’s the full post-race press conference transcript from the Malaysian Grand Prix. It’s worth reading some of the exchanges between Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel. At the start Vettel pushed Rosberg towards the pit wall as the Mercedes powered past. It wasn’t a huge deal, but it was a little tight.

If anyone had a reason to kick their cat after the race it was Daniel Ricciardo and he is to be admired for his positive attitude shown in his post-race comments via Red Bull: “It was looking like we could have a solid points finish today; the race was going pretty well,” Daniel said. “The start was really good and I made up a couple of positions and I was starting to, let’s say, mix it up at the front, which is nice. It’s fun being up there and fighting for the top few spots, but then we had a problem at the last pit stop and then we had a puncture.

“I think we had a front wing failure and a few other things went on and then the stop-go penalty, so the race ended pretty quickly for us, it went from looking good to looking pretty bad in a short amount of time. I’m really disappointed, but at the same time there’s a little bit in me which is happy because I think I’ve come out the first two races how I wanted to, in a way. I still want to improve, but we’ve started off on the right foot, so for that I’m pleased and with a little bit of luck we’ll turn things around soon and I’ll get some points.

“I love racing up the front, it’s been a privilege so far and a lot of fun in the last couple of races. It’s a bit addictive actually, I want more, so you’ll see me up there plenty of times this year.”

What a guy!

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Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

Lewis Hamilton wins 2014 Malaysian GP

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg

Lewis Hamilton has continued Mercedes AMG’s strong early season form by driving to a comfortable victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix today. He finished 17 seconds ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg. Amazingly, it’s the first Mercedes 1-2 finish since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel collected Red Bull’s first official points for 2014 by coming home third, ahead of a largely anonymous Fernando Alonso. The dual world champion did have to fight hard for that P4, enjoying a nice late race scrap with Nico Hulkenberg.

Jenson Button came home in sixth for McLaren. While the Williams intra-team rivalry went up a notch with Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas fighting on track and over the radio waves. Once again Felipe got the “your teammate is faster than you” radio call, but he’s learnt not to be pushed around so easily since his Ferrari days and did not let Bottas through as instructed and held on for P7.

The top 10 was rounded out by rookies Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat who have both continued their promising Formula 1 careers by collecting points in their first two grands prix.

Alas, once again the hard luck story was Daniel Ricciardo. At the start he made good ground dicing for position with Sebastian Vettel and claimed P3 in the early stages of the race. Vettel soon got past with the benefit of DRS but Daniel was looking safe for a solid fourth place finish. Then, on lap 41, through no fault of his own, it all went horribly wrong.

Daniel came in for what should have been his final pit stop. The wheel change seemed to go to plan but he was released without his right front wheel being secured properly. He was forced to stop in pit lane and then get pushed back into his pit box so the team could see to his wheel. Worse was to come. On his out lap his front wing broke and he had to pit again for a replacement.

The hard luck was still not done with as under new regulations he was given an automatic 10 second stop-go penalty for an unsafe release, wihch also brings with it a 10 place grid penalty for the next race. The disappointment was complete when he retired from the race seven laps from the end.

So once again Mercedes AMG showed it is the team to beat and Red Bull is the best placed team to challenge for race wins. We can expect that form to continue in Bahrain next weekend.

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