Athletistic/Formula 1. Red Bull entered Formula 1 as a manufacturer in 2005. The team purchased Jaguar from Ford in a hugely disappointing deal that ultimately proved to be a failure. When Red Bull arrived in Formula 1, they were not considered a serious team. However, almost two decades later, Red Bull has created a true legacy in Formula 1.

The team joined Formula 1 in 2005, won its first race in 2009, its first championship in 2010 then dominated for 4 years.

However, in 2014 the team took a big step back and did not win a single title for 7 years. Red Bull is back on track in 2021 and took its dominance of Formula 1 to new levels last year.

Red Bull reached its peak in 2023, when the team’s drivers lost just once all season and won a record 21 races.

Lewis Hamilton at one point called the team a “drinks company”, but now they are giving their competitors no chance. So how did Red Bull become the dominant force in Formula 1?

Reasons for Red Bull’s rise to power

It all started with the hiring of a very young team principal, Christian Horner. Helmut Marko spoke to Dietrich Mateschitz and they named Horner as the man to lead Red Bull in Formula 1. When Horner became team boss, he was younger than some drivers on the grid.

Even more intriguing was the fact that he was younger than Red Bull’s first driver, David Coulthard, who drove for the team for several seasons. Helmut Marko saw potential in Horner and an unconventional approach to racing. Later, this approach will pay off in the best possible way. On the advice of David Coulthard, Horner brought Adrien Newey to Red Bull.

The next big step, which many people forget, was Red Bull’s strategy to provide opportunities for young talent. The Young Driver Academy saw Sebastian Vettel as a driver it could build a team around, and after Fernando Alonso declined to join Red Bull, the team turned its attention to the young German.

Vettel lived up to his confidence by winning 4 titles with the team between 2010 and 2013.

Another aspect often overlooked when talking about Red Bull’s dominance from 2010 to 2013 is the fact that this marked the start of an era where in-season testing was banned.

Ferrari and McLaren have dominated Formula 1 for the past two decades, but their success depends on seasonal testing. Teams relied heavily on driving lap after lap on test tracks and making modifications to the car. When this was banned in 2009, these teams faced difficulties. Red Bull, on the other hand, has adapted to it in the best possible way.

The decline of Red Bull

The team’s decline was led to insufficient preparation for the turbo-hybrid era. The Austrian team with Renault has always had a suboptimal power unit, but until a certain period the gap with Mercedes and Ferrari was not too big.

The situation changed in 2014, when the Renault power unit turned out to be not only below average in terms of performance, but also in terms of reliability. Regardless of the quality of the Red Bull chassis, the deficit was simply insurmountable for the team.

One of Red Bull’s main problems at that time, which to some extent exposed the team’s short-sightedness, was that the team was a customer team. The team did not build its own power unit and was heavily dependent on the supplier.

So, when the Renault V6 Turbo hybrid completely failed, Red Bull had no other choice. Mercedes was never going to supply a powertrain to a competitor, Ferrari was willing to offer a year-old powertrain and Honda had an exclusive deal with McLaren at the time.

On top of all this, Mercedes had a huge advantage over all other teams as they had the best power plant.

At the end of the 2014 Formula 1 season, Sebastian Vettel left the team. Although it initially seemed like the team had the perfect replacement in Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull had a lot of work to do. The arrival of Max Verstappen in 2015 also made it clear to Red Bull, as well as Christian Horner and Helmut Marko, who would be the team’s future leader.

Renaissance

Since 2016, Red Bull has begun its renaissance by focusing on a younger driver. With Ricciardo’s departure at the end of 2018, the team’s reboot wasn’t truly complete until 2019, when Max Verstappen truly became the main face of Red Bull.

The main thing Red Bull managed to do during the recession was retain its staff and management. As soon as Red Bull’s problems began, the team’s upper management began to be inundated with offers from competitors. Christian Horner was about to leave, but Helmut Marko convinced him to stay. We also managed to keep Adrian Newey in the team.
These people played an important role in taking the team to the top.

Additionally, one of the most common things we see in a struggling team is that heads start to roll. One by one, people are losing their jobs.

Building a team around Max Verstappen and an era of dominance in partnership with Honda

The departure of Sebastian Vettel has left a void in the team. Ricciardo was expected to fill it, but he still lacked class and consistency. It was around this time that the team discovered the incredible talent of Max Verstappen and decided to rebuild the team around the young driver, as they had already done with Vettel himself.

Verstappen joined the team in 2016, and in 2018 he was a podium contender. It was his talent that allowed him to snatch the title from Hamilton in 2021 during the last race of the season. In 2022, with little resistance from Ferrari, he won a second title and then dominated in 2023, breaking numerous records.

The most important point that made Rude Bull stand out from its competitors was the tactical move to unite with Honda. McLaren abandoned the Japanese and they could have left Formula 1, but then Red Bull approached them.

Honda helped Red Bull overcome its powertrain deficit for 2021, and with that, the team began to challenge for the title. It was this unification that helped the team succeed, as the power plant was no longer an issue. As a result, we saw two of the most dominant seasons of the team’s tenure in Formula 1.


@sportru