Red Bull Racing

Formula 1 Team reports for the 2009 F1 season includes race previews, reports and reviews
Ed
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Red Bull Racing

Post by Ed » Sat Mar 21, 2009 9:43 pm

AusTrAliAn GrAnd PrixvieW

The All-Around-The-F1-World Guide to...
MELbouRnE

...with Mark Webber (and a lot of clichés)


Melbourne: Capital of Victoria
Population: 3.2 million (ex. ’Roos)
Area: 7,280 square kilometres
Main language: Strine
Government
Many Australians are republicans but most still swear allegiance to their queen, Kylie Minogue.

Music
The National Anthem (composed by Men At Work) is a tune called A Land Down Under which includes cultural references to ‘chundering’, (the Australian skill of getting rid of all that poisonous beer by being violently sick) and ‘Vegemite’ (a vegetable spread that is illegal on the grounds of bad taste in most civilized countries). Australian rock has recently seen a resurgence with the likes of Jet, The Vines and Wolfmother – but Queen Kylie still reigns supreme.

Mark’s tip for Seb: “Try listening to Kylie mate – she’s better than stars popular in Germany, like Scorpions or David Hasselhoff.”

Sport and Leisure
Important Note: In Melbourne sport is not a leisure pursuit it’s a serious job, even if you’re just a spectator. Pulling a sickie if you’ve got your hands on tickets for the grand prix, the Australian Open or the Melbourne Cup is a right written into the Constitution. An additional day off to recover from a hangover is a given. Leisure often involves paddling out into treacherous seas before trying to get back to shore by standing on a narrow piece of fibreglass, hoping not to fall into shark-infested waters.

Mark’s tip for Seb: “Surfing mate. Give it a try. Nothing can go wrong…and, if you’ve got a spare year, I’ll explain the rules of cricket to you.”

Food
Barbecuing is very popular, as the Australian male believes that cooking food outdoors on hot coal is a valuable contribution to housework, which is otherwise left to the wife. Aussie men are obsessed with barbecues; it’s a male bonding thing – all men stay down one end of the garden and the women at the other. Line you are most likely to hear men say: “I’m bloody good at barbecuing, but don’t ask me for any recipes, as that’s the woman’s job.” Line you are least likely to hear men say: “I think those sausages need a touch more sage, don’t you?”

Mark’s tip for Seb: “It’s very important to grill food at a barbecue. No-one will ever come round to your place if you say: ‘Let’s go and boil sausages and cabbage in a big pan in the garden’.”

Fashion
Australia has given the world strange stuff to put on its head and on its feet. The police hats look as though they’ve been flattened against a wall, which is handy if they ever want to sleep on-duty, while the all-time Aussie favourite, the hat-with-corks-hanging-off-the-brim-on-some-string are an endanged species after the Aussies invented the screwtop wine bottle. If the locals are bothered by flies, they just use what they call ‘The Aussie Wave’, which involves flapping your hand in front of your face.

Mark’s tip for Seb: “Thongs mate, you Europeans are crazy - you wear them on your feet, not on your bum.”

Mark Webber’s Awesome Aussie Days Out:
l Walk The Sydney Harbour Bridge
l Go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef
l Visit Tasmania
l Watch a Test match (that’s international cricket...) at the MCG (that’s Melbourne Cricket Ground...)

Healthcare
Aussie medical care is great if you need treatment for snake bites, sand fly rash, shark bites, funnel web spider attack wounds, heat stroke or have crashed into a kangaroo on the Great Ocean Road. The average life expectancy for men is 79 years and for women it’s 84 years, providing, of course you never go into the Great Outdoors... or hit a kangaroo on the Great Ocean Road.

Mark’s tip for Seb: “This is a great city to have a broken leg fixed mate.”

Culture, Education, Religion and Philosophy
In Australia, these concepts are best summed up in this joke:
Sheila walked into the kitchen to find Bruce walking around with a fly swatter.
“What are you doing?”
“Hunting flies”
“Killing any?”
“Yep, three males, two females,”
“How can you tell them apart?”
“Three were on a beer can, two were on the phone.”

Mark Webber’s Awesome Aussie Fact:
Mark knows a few Australian Bruces but no Aussie Sheilas!

Ed
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Post by Ed » Sat Mar 28, 2009 1:20 am

"A BIT HIT AND MISS…"

Car 14 MARK WEBBER, 1st Practice P17 2nd Practice P4
"It's great to be back in Australia. I'm proud of the Australian GP; they put on an excellent show here for everyone and it's good for the local people. They've had a tough few months recently with the fires, so I hope they enjoy the weekend. My day today was a bit hit and miss to be honest, as we had a few technical problems with the car. I didn't get many laps in during the first session, but the second was a lot better. We completed more laps and tried both types of tyres, so we've got some good stuff to go through tonight. It was quite interesting to see how low the sun was through the trees towards the end of the second session, it was good to run with that to get used to it for Sunday."

Car 15 SEBASTIAN VETTEL, 1st Practice P20 2nd Practice P8
"We had a bad session in this morning's practice and didn't get too much running, due to a hydraulics problem. In the afternoon we were able to get some laps in, but unfortunately I made a stupid mistake towards the end of the practice, so we couldn't run through our programme. Nevertheless, it's looking alright with what we've done compared to the time we had on the circuit, so let's see how we go tomorrow. Like always on Fridays, it's a bit difficult to interpret everyone's lap times, but I think we can be happy."

CHRISTIAN HORNER, Team Principal: "After the off-track activities of the last couple of days, it was good to get the weekend under way. There were a couple of issues in the first session - a hydraulics leak with Sebastian and a driveshaft problem with Mark limited our run-time. In the second session both drivers showed good pace and we worked through our programme.
Unfortunately Sebastian had a small off, which ended his day early, but both drivers seem comfortable in the car and their pace was respectable."

STATISTICS
MARK WEBBER
First Practice Session
Position: 17, Best Time: 1:29.081, Laps: 7, Chassis No. 2
Second Practice Session
Position: 4, Best Time 1:26.370, Laps: 30, Chassis No. 2

SEBASTIAN VETTEL
First Practice Session
Position: 20, Best Time: 1:32.784, Laps: 4, Chassis No. 3
Second Practice Session
Position: 8, Best Time: 1:26.740, Laps: 19, Chassis No. 3

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Post by mlittle » Mon Mar 30, 2009 11:07 am

Australian GP
Red Bull/Renault Race Report


~~~"OVERALL WE HAVE A REASON TO SMILE..."

Car 14, MARK WEBBER, (Finish Position 13th Start Position: 8th)

"That was frustrating at my home race. I was so disappointed to drive round with a damaged car. I wanted a good result for the fans today, but we'll do our best to recover from the next race on ­ it would have been nice to have got a good result here. My start wasn't too bad. I got to Turn one and was making sure I got through there clean, but then Rubens (Barrichello) came in to the side of me pretty hard and that was it really. I lost a huge amount of down force; we had a lot of damage and I wasn't going to be a threat to anyone after that. It was a tough day for the team but we'll be back, I'm happy that Malaysia is in only a weeks' time."

Car 15, SEBASTIAN VETTEL, (Finish Position DNF, Start Position: 3rd)

"We were in second and a strong position, but then, a couple of laps from the end, I had a stupid racing accident with Robert (Kubica). At the time I turned in I was ahead, but I couldn't keep up speed in the corner and Robert was on a harder tyre, so was much quicker. At the time we collided he was in front, but I had no where to go, I couldn't stop the car, or turn to the right and my tyres were gone. It's a shame as it meant the end of the race for both of us. Should I have let him go? You always want to fight. Maybe I should have said let him go and bring third back home, but that's life. I tried to defend and, up to the mid-corner, I had reason, but then I had no grip to avoid a collision. I'm sorry to the team and also to Robert, as it didn't just mean the end of my race, but also his. The team did a good job, we were working very hard over the winter and the car seems to be very good. We had good pace today, so overall we have a reason to smile."

CHRISTIAN HORNER: "A totally gutting finish to what had been a superb race for Sebastian. He had good pace throughout and was trying to take the fight to (Jenson) Button. He drove an immaculate race, but I guess a racing accident with Kubica at the end on the soft tyre was always going to be marginal and we came within two laps of a great finish. Looking on the positive side, the pace of the car was very good. It backed up our qualifying performance and we can take confidence into the next race in Malaysia in only a week's time. Mark was unfortunately involved in an incident on the first lap which effectively destroyed his home race. We elected to keep him running in order to put more mileage on the car. It was a great shame after such strong team work here and in Milton Keynes, the team didn't deserve the finish we had today, but we'll fight back next weekend."

FABRICE LOM, Renault, Principal Engineer, Track Support: "What a disappointment - we had been so quick! Mark had a shunt at the first corner and lost his race there. Sebastian did a fantastic race and was nearly as quick as the winner, but we had to take the soft tyre on the last stint and a shunt ended his race. So, a shame, but I have such hope for the season with this pace. We are down, but ready to bounce back."
The Sci-Fi Station Come by and visit when you get the chance. :)
The Wayward Tarheel I'm even in the blogosphere.... :shock:

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Post by mlittle » Fri Apr 03, 2009 10:48 am

Red Bull Racing
Malaysian Grand Prix Preview


-----Over-heating disorder

The one word every journalist uses when describing Malaysia is hot. But how much do the drivers have to cope with in Sepang? We made an unwilling volunteer run the start-finish straight in race overalls to find out...

People often ask drivers what it feels like to race in the Malaysian heat. "Well, you know when you've had enough of sitting in a sauna," said Mark Webber. "Well that's about lap 2."

F1 drivers wear fire-proof underwear, boots, socks, a racesuit, balaclava, gloves and a helmet and then race for nearly two hours in cockpit temperatures of up to 60 degrees.

To show what this would feel like, we took an ordinary man, got him fully kitted out and told him to run 437 metres along the start-finish straight.

Under the watchful eye of Webber's trainer Roger Cleary, we took our man's heart rate and temperature before and after to see how three minutes of light jogging (he said he was running, but we have yet to find any credible witnesses) affected him in terms of heart rate, temperature and how red his face went.

And what were Mr Cleary's conclusions? "The body will always try to keep its temperature below 37.5 degrees through methods such as sweating. If core temp goes above that, performance drops dramatically.

"For the driver, the air inside a cockpit is much hotter than the average air temperature and they have additional pressures, such as the actual race conditions.

"Our guy was feeling the effects after a short jog, but F1 drivers wouldn't have even broken into a sweat. Their hard work starts in the car. On lap 2."
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Post by Ed » Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:40 pm

Malaysian F1 GP - Friday Practice Sessions 1 & 2

FI COST-CUTTING WITH RED BULL
In keeping with Formula One's current cost-cutting philosophy, Red Bull is here to help with a money-saving tip! Save on costly mobile phone calls. Make a 2C1S* Phone.
*2 Cans, 1 piece of String

It's portable! 100% energy efficient! Carbon free! And, quite literally, it won't cost you the earth! For best reception use Red Bull cans and ensure you are within one metre of call recipient. Calls to Europe from Sepang are subject to status. Please check with your service provider.

Car 15 SEBASTIAN VETTEL, 1st Practice P9, 2nd Practice P3
"The heat in Malaysia is always a surprise, even if you're here for a couple of days before you jump in the car. It's very hot with the suit and everything and, no matter how much you prepare, the first outing is always a bad surprise - but, you quickly adapt. Every time you come in to the box it's like you've been in the shower.
Fortunately I've got a bag with dry ice in it, which I put next to my balls, so at least they stay nice and cool! Today went well, with smooth running. We ran through our programme, did a lot of laps and got a lot of information about our tyres. There were no major problems with either car, so it was a good day."

Car 14 MARK WEBBER, 1st Practice, P8 2nd Practice P5
"Today was a lot better for us in terms of reliability than Friday in Melbourne, so it was a big step forward. Both cars ran well and obviously it's a big challenge for the cars around here with the heat, so that's good. We got all of our programme completed in plenty of time. Performance wise, we're not too bad here. We have a bit of work to do tonight, but in general it was a pretty good day for the team and for me."

STATISTICS
SEBASTIAN VETTEL
First Practice Session
Position: 9, Best Time: 1:36.747, Laps: 25, Chassis No. 1
Second Practice Session
Position: 3, Best Time: 1:35.954, Laps: 40, Chassis No. 1

MARK WEBBER
First Practice Session
Position: 8, Best Time: 1:36.703, Laps: 23, Chassis No. 2
Second Practice Session
Position: 5, Best Time 1:36.026, Laps: 36, Chassis No. 2

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Post by Ed » Sat Apr 04, 2009 10:55 pm

Malaysian GP 2009 - Qualifying

Saturday, 4 April 2009

COULTHARD'S COMMENTARY:
"Friday seems to have been misleading in terms of the Brawn performance. I expect they were running a bit more fuel, so not to show their hand. Toyota has built on their strong testing form and Melbourne. Unfortunately for Sebastian, his ten-place penalty drops him to 13th and I think Mark might be slightly disappointed with seventh, but let's what to see what the fuel loads are. Williams may have fuelled short and seventh is still a solid start position. The big shock was Ferrari and Massa going out in Q3 and the first KERS cars are ninth and tenth! Providing Sebastian can keep out of trouble in the first corner, I expect he can work his way towards points, although if other cars don't have problems it might be more difficult. For Mark, he's starting in a points-position and has good starting performance. I think he's got the pace on Rosberg, but it all depends on fuel loads." On getting a grid penalty… "Of course it's frustrating, but race drivers are very good at moving on - they crash a car and they're over it, they get a penalty and they're over it. I don't think we're conditioned to carry that baggage, as it gets in the way of delivering a good lap time."

Car 15 SEBASTIAN VETTEL, Position 3rd (Seb will take a ten place penalty)
"I have the penalty and there's nothing I can do about that. The secret is just to focus on what I'm here to do and I'm here to race, so that's what we do. Of course it's a shame to see the car performing at a good level in Q1, Q2 and Q3 and know that we have a plus ten tomorrow; we were up in the top five throughout. It will be a very tough day tomorrow, but I'm looking forward to it and nothing is impossible. I'm hoping for some rain, as that can mix things up quite a lot, but let's see."

Car 14 MARK WEBBER, Position 7th
"Qualifying's tight! That was quite an enjoyable session. It would be nice to have a bit more of a cushion between us and the other cars, but that's not what it's about at the moment and seventh is the best I could do. With the strategy we're on, we'll see how we go tomorrow."

CHRISTIAN HORNER, Team Principal: "A strong team qualifying performance today.
Both Mark and Sebastian are looking quick, but we're just too far behind the double-decker diffusers at the moment. Unfortunately, Sebastian has his ten-place penalty to take, but hopefully he can have a bit of luck tomorrow."

FABRICE LOM, Renault, Principal Engineer Track Support: "A nice qualifying. The performance of the car is good and I think we will be in 5th and 13th on the grid tomorrow with the penalty. We have new engines here and with the quality of our engine and the way the RB5 is performing, I think we have everything under control for tomorrow. It's a tough race for the engine here, but it's even tougher for the driver."

Practice 3
Mark Webber: P2, Best Time: 1:36.048, Laps: 13
Sebastian Vettel, P6, Best Time: 1:36.194, Laps: 14

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Post by Ed » Sun Apr 05, 2009 11:49 pm

Malaysian GP 2009 - RACE

Nice weather for ducks… And we get 1.5 points!

Car 14, MARK WEBBER, (Finish Position 6th Start Position: 5th)
"The guys made the best call to stop the race when they did. It would have been nice to have had some more laps to give us a crack at getting on the podium - but that's how it is, so I've got mixed emotions. It's dark now (7pm), so it was the right call not to make a re-start. I'm not so sure you can blame the time of day for today's conditions, as the weather was bad at 3pm too. It seems it was just one of those days. It's been the mistiest and coolest day I've ever seen in Malaysia for race day."

Car 15, SEBASTIAN VETTEL, (Finish Position DNF, Start Position: 13th)
"Not so much to tell. I was on the intermediate tyres and they were pretty gone as it wasn't very wet before the sudden pour down. I was approaching Turn seven and there was suddenly lots of water, but I was being very cautious. I lost the car due to aquaplaning and there was nothing I could do. There was too much water and my tyres were not made for those conditions. A spin wouldn't have been much of a problem, but the anti-stall didn't work. Without that, I would just have spun, lost some time and that would have been it. In the past drivers had three pedals, a throttle, a brake and a clutch and when you were spinning you knew exactly what to do. It's not in our hands anymore, so it's a shame that we have to retire for this stupid reason."

CHRISTIAN HORNER: "The rain was always going to come, it was just a question of when. Unfortunately it started with drizzle, followed by heavy rain. We got both drivers onto full wets at the earliest possibility and we then put Sebastian onto intermediates. Just before the heavy rain came, he was the quickest car on the track at the time but unfortunately he spun on his in-lap to get extremes and the anti-stall didn't catch the engine, so that was the end of his race. Mark made a pit stop for intermediates just before it started to rain heavily and then pitted again for the extremes. If he would have completed that lap, we believe he would have been third in the running order. However, the count back, classifies us 6th."

FABRICE LOM, Renault, Principal Engineer, Track Support: "What a race! We had a difficult start at the beginning and Mark lost some places, although Sebastian made some. Both cars then had good fights-moving up through the field and overtaking lots of cars. Then the rain came and it was like a lottery. We have to apologise to Sebastian; the anti-stall didn't catch his engine, so we have to investigate that. Mark did a fantastic job; it's an unfair result for him, but at least we get the first points of the year."

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Post by Ed » Fri Apr 17, 2009 9:11 pm

F1 COST-CUTTING WITH RED BULL

THIS WEEK: Make your own binoculars!
Spent too much money on a diffuser or Paris hotels? Then save cash with this handy way to make racewatching binoculars. They don’t have lenses, but that means they’re just like those on sale outside the circuit… Two cans of Red Bull, a piece of string and there you go.

Note: Empty cans first. Might be more effective if fitted with four high quality optical lenses (average cost 1500 Euros). Lenses not supplied.

Car 14 MARK WEBBER
1st Practice P5, 2nd Practice P4
“We did the normal tyre comparisons today, which are important ahead of Sunday as they might be quite a challenge here. The guys did a great job and the car ran faultlessly, which is always a benefit on a Friday. We’ve dried out from Malaysia and, instead, we had perfect driving conditions today, so we’ll see how we go tomorrow. I enjoyed it out there.”

Car 15 SEBASTIAN VETTEL
1st Practice P12, 2nd Practice P5
“Overall, it was a quite good day. Unfortunately, in the second practice we had a problem with the rear suspension, it was going to take too much time to fix so we had to stop earlier than planned. Nevertheless, we got some useful information from the car. The main task here for all the teams and drivers is to manage the different tyre compounds. As you can see, graining is the main issue, but thankfully I have my helmet and visor, which protects my eyes as the rubber is coming off!”

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Post by Ed » Sat Apr 18, 2009 9:53 pm

Shang-hIGH - POLE position

Car 15, SEBASTIAN VETTEL, Position 1st!
“I’m very, very happy – it’s unbelievable. It was a bit last minute! I only had one run in each qualifying session but, as you can see, you don’t need more! It wasn’t easy, we had a problem with the car and had to run as little as possible. The car was really quick though, Mark had two runs in each session and was always up there, so I didn’t have any concerns. Still, if you have only one lap, you can’t make any mistakes. I’m really happy – we made it to pole position in the end! This morning wasn’t ideal, but it seems the less I run in the morning, the better it is in qualifying! A big thanks to the mechanics, who have been working very, very hard, basically all night, and thanks to all the team back in Milton Keynes too. We made it! I’m looking forward to tomorrow, it’s a long race and there’s a long way to go, but we have the best starting position.”

Car 14, mark webber, Position 3rd!
“What a result! The work that’s gone into this from the team, especially over the last few weeks, has been incredible. It would have been good to have both cars on the front row, but Fernando did a great job. I was expecting to be a little bit tighter in the end, but we’ll see how the fuel loads pan out tomorrow. We’ve done a good job. Q2 was strong for us and the car is behaving well, with a lot of grip. I’m doing what I can to give the youngster (Seb) a hard time, we’re pushing each other hard and it’s working very well!”

CHRISTIAN HORNER, Team Principal:
“A fantastic team result and the team’s first pole position that was brilliantly executed by Sebastian. He stuck to a disciplined strategy, which paid off and now he starts tomorrow’s race with a clear track in front of him – the best place to be! Mark has also been absolutely on it all weekend. I’m delighted with the performance and the effort that has gone into this today, not only here in Shanghai, but also in Milton Keynes. The
whole team has been working really hard, but now we have to convert it. Tomorrow will be a big day!”

FABRICE LOM, Renault, Principal Engineer
Track Support:
It’s fantastic, such a good qualifying result – one and three! After all the politics that has gone on, now it’s about racing and it’s great to be in the position we are for tomorrow. We have three Renault engines in the top three, so a great day for Renault.”

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Post by Ed » Sun Apr 19, 2009 11:32 pm

RED BULL GIVES YOU WINGS

Car 15, SEBASTIAN VETTEL, (Finish Position 1st, Start Position: 1st)
"It's unbelievable - I'm so, so happy. Ten laps from the end I tried to control the gap between me and the car behind and adapt my pace. I was trying to have everything under control, but it was difficult. At some points I was trying to bring the car home, but that meant I lost focus, so then I just tried to take it corner by corner, not looking too far ahead. On the last two laps I backed off a bit, as I didn't want to risk aquaplaning on the water at the side of the track. And then… well it's just fantastic. Winning my second race, one with Toro Rosso and one with Red Bull, makes me extremely happy and I hope we can continue working in this direction! I'm extremely proud and happy. I'm so happy to have won the race, it was an enormous and great job by the whole of Red Bull. I want to say a massive thank you to them all, everyone has worked so hard, so thanks to the team and also to Red Bull. Greetings to Austria!"

Car 14, MARK WEBBER, (Finish Position 2nd, Start Position: 3rd)
"It's such an incredible day for the team - you have no idea what the guys went through last night. We were absolutely shitting ourselves that the cars wouldn't finish the race because everytime we ran yesterday, they stopped. So, it's incredible to get the cars home and to get maximum points. This comes after the near misses in Australia for Sebastian and for myself in Malaysia. It's a great day for the team in Milton Keynes, well done and thank you to them, and also to everyone in Austria. It was a challenging race at times! It was hard to follow the cars in the beginning due to the spray, but then further into the race, it started to settle a bit. After the second safety car stint, I had a good scrap with Jenson. On my official lap at the front, I couldn't believe how clear it was - I thought 'Oh my God, it's beautiful!' I then pushed like hell to make up as much time as possible - it was fantastic. When Jenson re-passed me, I was very keen to try win the race, so I passed him around Turn seven as I knew he wouldn't know I would be there, it was one of the best moves of my career. I'm happy today!"

CHRISTIAN HORNER: "A great result for the team and Red Bull. It's testimony to all the effort and hard work that Red Bull and Mr Mateschitz has committed to Formula One. I want to thank Red Bull and everyone in Milton Keynes, who have worked so hard for this. It's just an unbelievable result. We've got a great car, a great team, great drivers, a single diffuser and we have a double one to come, so we're looking good. The whole team and company can be very proud of this moment."

FABRICE LOM, Renault, Principal Engineer, Track Support: "What a result, we have a magic pair of drivers. Sebastian and Mark are very strong, very cool, and it's a pleasure to work with them. On behalf of all the Renault team, I would like to say that we are very proud to work with them both and be part of this Red Bull F1 adventure. I was also like to thank all the guys back at the factories in Milton Keynes, Viry and Mecachrome."

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Post by Ed » Wed Apr 22, 2009 8:02 pm

BAHRAIN GRAND PRIXVIEW

A couple of days after our one-two finish in China, we quizzed Red Bull Racing's chief technical officer, Adrian Newey on the significance of this maiden victory.

Adrian, a couple of days later, how does it feel?
AN: Waking up on a Monday morning with a one-two always puts a smile on your face.
The result is a great confidence boost for everyone at the factory - knowing we can put a car on the grid that can finish first and second, and do so from the front, not inheriting the result because of others having problems. It really is a great reward for all the hard work put in, not just by ourselves, but also by Renault and all our other technical partners.

Where did you watch the race?
AN: I watched it in my kitchen at home, part of the time with my wife Marigold. But she found it too stressful watching with me and went off to another room, later my daughter joined me. Within a few minutes of the finish our neighbours came round and, despite the early hour, we had a celebratory drink. It would have been nice to have been in China, but I'm just very pleased for everyone that we got the result we deserved.

With technical problems earlier in the weekend, were you worried the cars might not get to the flag?
AN: We were reasonably confident that we'd fixed what appeared to be a problem with a batch of drive shaft parts. But, you cannot take reliability for granted, so the last half hour of the race seemed to last forever!

How has the RB5 evolved since the start of the season?
AN: We had an aero-update, consisting of a new diffuser and modified front wing for the final pre-Melbourne test, which brought a reasonable step in performance. Then, for China we had further new parts that brought a small performance gain. In dry qualifying, we were behind the Brawns in Melbourne and Malaysia, but much closer in China, looking at fuel-corrected lap times. Our set-up in China was pretty similar to that in Malaysia, so the rest of the performance might be circuit specific, when you are looking at gaps of just a few tenths, as has been the case between McLaren and Ferrari for example in past years.

The China result came without a double-diffuser, so is this issue less important than people think?
AN: There is no doubt that a double-diffuser does give performance. How much performance depends on how you interpret the regulations and how you adapt it to suit your own car, so that some teams will get more out of it than others. It is worth doing for everyone on the grid. Our challenge is to adapt one to work on our car.

When will the RB5 appear with a double diffuser?
AN: As has been speculated, given the design of RB5, it's not the easiest task getting it to fit the car and while we work on this one item, we also need to keep working on the general development of the car, to ensure we don't fall behind in other areas. The unique feature of the Red Bull cars is the pullrod rear suspension, which is a good solution when you don't have a double-diffuser. But getting it to work with the diffuser will be more difficult. We won't have a double-diffuser before Monaco.

Looking at the first three races, what has struck you about them?
AN: The most obvious change is just how different the grid order is compared to the last few seasons. The big teams like Ferrari, BMW and McLaren are currently on the back foot, but they won't stay there of course. I think that's refreshing and healthy for Formula One. It creates more interest, seeing different teams and drivers at the front.

If this weekend in Bahrain is completely dry, can we expect to see the current series leaders back out in front?
AN: It's difficult to know, as circuit specific advantages come into play. From our point of view, we don't really know yet what the different strengths and weaknesses of our own car are, compared to those of our competitors at individual tracks.

You mentioned the big teams will fight back. With their greater resources, do you expect them to come steaming past you?
AN: I hope not! With a big regulation change like this, it is an opportunity for teams that have fewer resources, but are intelligent in the way they think about the implication of the regulations and how to implement them, to come up with clever design and a good car. When the regulations are stable for a while then teams with more resources have a greater ability to evaluate more options and so have an advantage. That's not to say a smaller team couldn't keep its advantage and rules for the future are aimed at restricting development still further in order to reduce the 'arms race' that has characterised F1 over the past few years.

How does this win compare to other significant victories in your career?
AN: The first point to make is that this is not our first win, Red Bull Technology had a winning car design last year, operated very well by Scuderia Toro Rosso to win in Monza. Emotionally, for everyone here in Milton Keynes, it's been extremely pleasing. I was already very excited and happy after Monza last year and this one in China was special because we managed to get a one-two finish and do pretty much the same in qualifying. The other element that makes this win special is that there's been a big regulation change and we have shown that, as a team we have understood that set of rule changes, producing a car that is reasonably well adapted to them right from the start. It makes it extremely satisfying because, with the new rules, we have been working on our own as a group for almost nine months, without really knowing what other teams are doing and not knowing where your product is going to rate when compared to them, as all the reference points and base lines have changed.

But now you have to rethink the design of RB5 to take into account the Paris decision about the diffuser. Do you feel it's a shame you have to take a metaphorical hacksaw to your original concept for the car?
AN: It will certainly involve a lot of work! The challenge now is to try and integrate the new diffuser into the rest of the car. But I don't regard it as a shame, I see it as another challenge.
Unfortunately, it will involve some more late nights! That's Formula One: you can't afford to sit around and feel sorry for yourself, you just have to get on with it.

Julian Mayo
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Post by Julian Mayo » Wed Apr 22, 2009 8:26 pm

I hope he didn't get busted for DUI on the way from the Kitchen to the factory :shock:
The Mountain is a savage Mistress.

Ed
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Post by Ed » Sat Apr 25, 2009 12:27 am

F1 COST-CUTTING:
Part Three
Still need to save money? Then forget fancy hotel rooms, Splash ‘n Dash with your very own portable shower!

Covered in dust after taking photos trackside? Hot and bothered in the desert sun? Then stop! – don’t throw that can away.
Punch a few holes in it, fill it with water, et voila, a quick refreshing and cleaning shower. And if you really want to be green, be sure to use the water still in your shoes from Sunday in Malaysia and China...

Car 14 MARK WEBBER
1st Practice P9, 2nd Practice P5

It’s obviously different conditions here, compared to when we drove on Sunday in Shanghai. We have very dry conditions and, as usual, Bahrain throws up its challenge with car balance. We had a productive Friday, running on both tyres and the car ran faultlessly. In terms of pace it’s always hard to say who’s where on Friday – but hopefully we’re in good shape again to get some good results on Sunday

Car 15 SEBASTIAN VETTEL
1st Practice P12, 2nd Practice P4

So, obviously it’s back to normal now. Last weekend was fantastic, but we have to carry on as there’s a lot of work to do! So, our minds are now set to focus on Bahrain. It was a normal Friday, we were more or less able to do our full programme and had no issues with the car.
Performance wise, it’s difficult to comment, but the car feels alright. We were struggling to find a good balance this morning, but it was better this afternoon. Now we have to look at the data and try to improve for tomorrow. I think everyone was surprised how hot it is when you leave the pits in the car, it’s like someone’s blowing a heat gun in your face. It’s better with the visor closed than open, otherwise you just get more hot air blowing at you.”

Ed
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Post by Ed » Sat May 09, 2009 1:13 am

Bahrain Qualifying

Sebastian Vettel: "That was a good session, we could see in Q1 it was very tough and it wasn’t enough to do one run on the prime tyres, so everyone had to put on the option. But it was a smooth qualifying session and we had no problems. The car was very quick, we only needed one run in Q2 and we remained at the top, even though the circuit was improving, which was very good. In Q3 the two Toyotas were a bit too quick – I’m looking forward to tomorrow, I reckon they might pull in a little earlier than us! But, it’s a long race, so let’s see.”

Mark Webber: "Traffic. I had traffic on the last corner and therefore wasn’t quick enough to go through. I don’t usually get caught out with that problem and that was the worst place to get nailed, as it wrecked both my flying laps. I had nowhere to go in the last corner of my first lap and then
Sutil slip-streamed past me for the start of my second, so it was a disaster. Q1 is the worst session to have had that problem, as now we’re at the back for tomorrow – my race is screwed.”

Christian Horner: "“I think the car weights will show that both Toyotas are set for an aggressive strategy tomorrow – we’ve got a fresh set of tyres remaining from today so I think we have a strong strategy for tomorrow’s race. We’re bitterly disappointed for Mark who was blocked by Sutil in Q1, both drivers should have been up at the front today which is really frustrating. It was a great performance from Sebastian though – he’s on fire at the moment, he did a great lap in Q2 and a very good lap in Q3, so
let’s see what tomorrow’s race brings.”

Fabrice Lom: “Very mixed feelings. We had a very good qualifying with Sebastian, who was top in Q1 and Q2. He’s third, but I think he has a good
strategy so we’re confident for tomorrow. It will be very hot and the engine will suffer a bit, but we will try our best to get some more points
and I hope a victory! It’s such a shame for Mark, he was having a great weekend but then was blocked in qualifying. I’m sure he can bounce back from there tomorrow – we’ll cross our fingers.”

Ed
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Post by Ed » Sat May 09, 2009 1:16 am

Bahrain Race

Car 15, SEBASTIAN VETTEL, (Finish Position 2nd, Start Position: 3rd)
“Very good. A good result and good points, but it was a difficult race. The start was okay, but then suddenly Lewis (Hamilton) was next to me – he must have pressed his special button and got an advantage. At the first corner we were three deep, me in the middle and Jenson (Button) on the outside, so I had to give way and lost two positions. Unfortunately I then got stuck behind Lewis, which caused degradation to the tyres – you start to slide and never really come back from that. It’s hard braking here so you need the tyres and rear stability. In the second stint I was just behind Jarno (Trulli), which was a shame as I was on soft tyres and could have gone a bit quicker. In the third stint, it was the other way round and I had to defend against Jarno who was then on the soft tryes. He was very close in my mirrors, but I didn’t make any mistakes and we came second! A massive thanks to all the guys for this great result.”

Car 14, MARK WEBBER, (Finish Position 11th, Start Position: 18th)
“My start was okay, we had a reasonable first few laps, but then I got stuck behind Piquet. It’s very difficult to overtake a car with KERS, he was too quick on the straights and that really wrecked the first stint for me. We then converted to a two-stop strategy, but the grip was quite low on the prime tyres, although it was the same for everyone. If you don’t start near the front in these races we know the score, but I did my best. It was a good day for Sebastian, which shows the performance of the car. My mechanics worked like hell and the car was reliable, so we’ll have our day.”

CHRISTIAN HORNER: “Turn two dictated our afternoon, when Jenson (Button) and Lewis (Hamilton) managed to nip past Sebastian. He then lost a lot of time in the first stint behind Lewis and in the second stint
behind Jarno (Trulli) when he was on the prime tyre. When he had the overlap and free air, he was very quick and was able to get himself up into second position. So, a great result, another eight points, we’re still second in the Constructors’ Championship and we had a car that was quick enough to win again today. Mark drove a difficult race from a
difficult starting position. He had good pace but, as almost all the cars finished, 11th was probably the optimum for him today.”

FABRICE LOM, Renault, Principal Engineer, Track Support: “Mixed feelings!
Second is a place we can enjoy – it’s a very good result, 26 points from two races is very special for the team, but we had a car that was able to win today, so there’s a bit of disappointment too, and also for Mark. He was very quick, but when you start so low on the grid, it’s very difficult to
overtake, especially the KERS cars. But, it’s a good result and we have a lot of points in the bag as we move to Europe.”

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