From party team to world champion: How Red Bull joined F1 20 years ago

The yr is 2004 and David Coulthard is in his ultimate season with McLaren. DC – because the Scot is thought – is aware of that his future won’t be with the Woking-based staff and {that a} sure Juan Pablo Montoya is ready to take his place. He has to search for different choices and attracts curiosity from Jaguar. The staff with the gorgeous deep-green livery has Mark Webber and Christian Klien as its drivers however sees Coulthard’s expertise as a superb possibility to maneuver the squad ahead.

Along with supervisor Martin Brundle, Coulthard discusses the professionals and cons of a possible swap to Jaguar, however their conclusion is obvious. “I made a decision that I might not signal for Jaguar – I might somewhat stop Method 1 than signal with them,” the youthful Briton tells Motorsport.com practically 20 years on.

Coulthard has no confidence in Jaguar and the staff’s management, though an surprising lifeline comes from Crimson Bull. The power drink model joins forces with a younger Christian Horner, who’s making an attempt to make his manner into Method 1.

“I began my very own staff in what’s now Method 2 and competed towards Helmut Marko’s staff,” Horner recollects on the Speaking Bull podcast. “In 2002, 2003 and 2004, I gained the championship three years in a row and I used to be seeking to take that staff into Method 1.

“Bernie Ecclestone was pushing me, saying: ‘We want new, younger blood in F1. I need to do away with this man, Eddie Jordan, he’s driving me mad, so why don’t you purchase his staff? I’ll allow you to.’ I attempted to place a deal collectively and, on the similar time, I used to be working a Crimson Bull junior driver, Vitantonio Liuzzi, that Helmut Marko had positioned with me.

“The take care of the Jordan staff turned increasingly more difficult and, within the meantime, Crimson Bull acquired Jaguar in November 2004. Later that month, Helmut rang me up and stated: ‘Dietrich wish to see you.’ So I went to Salzburg and Mateschitz informed me: ‘I need to change the administration, I’ve bought massive ambitions with this staff, and I am prepared to take an opportunity on you.’ I used to be solely 31 years of age and didn’t have to consider it for too lengthy.”

Horner takes over as staff boss and has his sights set on Coulthard as effectively. “Christian got here in, however he nonetheless had to determine which door led to which division at Jaguar!” the Scot jokes. “I do not forget that the staff wished me to signal earlier than going to the primary take a look at. However I stated: ‘No, let me go to the take a look at and let me uncover in regards to the staff.’

“I knew a number of the individuals as I labored with them at Paul Stewart Racing, however you want good management, you want funding and also you want those who make everybody consider that that is the fitting route for you. That’s what I felt was missing. I went to the take a look at and stated: ‘If I do a superb job, you need to signal me. And for those who do a superb job, I need to be with you.’”

Secret dinner with Adrian Newey

Throughout that day, Coulthard has intensive conversations with Dietrich Mateschitz. “Dietrich got here to the take a look at – I sat with him and frolicked to seek out out what his imaginative and prescient for the game was,” Coulthard recollects. “Clearly I knew that he’d been a part-owner of Sauber and he’d been a visual sponsor of that staff for a very long time, so he wasn’t a beginner that out of the blue arrived and had gone ‘Method 1 is the flavour of my month and let’s see what enjoyable we are able to have with this’. There was a long-term technique in place.”

What appeals much more is that Coulthard will get some freedom to form the technique: “You make selections based mostly on relationships and belief, and Dietrich by no means let me down in something he dedicated to.

“Within the early days I spent a whole lot of time instantly with him in Salzburg on a Monday after a grand prix to debate the place we have been, what we would have liked and what individuals could be greatest to serve the staff. He didn’t at all times say sure, after all not, as a result of that’s not the sport. However on the issues that you just actually believed in, not based mostly on a PowerPoint presentation however based mostly on ardour and the assumption that this individual will change the fortunes of the staff, then 9 occasions out of 10 he would go ‘OK, you’re empowered to assist and construct the staff’.”

One of many individuals to vary the fortunes of the staff goes by the title of Adrian Newey. The legendary designer is excessive on Horner’s want record, and Coulthard is aware of him effectively from their time at Williams and McLaren. “David labored even sooner than Tinder these days! The match was there very quickly,” Horner jokes. “He arrange a secret dinner at Bluebird in London with Adrian and his spouse – as a result of, ultimately, girls make all the selections – and that’s how we bought to know one another.”

Adrian Newey and David Coulthard

Picture by: DaimlerChrysler

That dinner results in a gathering with Mateschitz, and through that dialog, Newey is satisfied to hitch the younger however formidable challenge. On 8 November 2005, each events announce that one of the vital sought-after males within the paddock is making the transfer to Red Bull Racing. “That was an important second for us,” says Horner. “Earlier than that, individuals didn’t actually take us severely, and one of many principal targets of a race weekend was to get into one of many Crimson Bull events. However when Adrian joined our staff, that modified, and other people stopped seeing us as a celebration staff.”

The magazines that have been banned by Ron Dennis

Particularly in its debut yr, Crimson Bull is thought for its events, one thing Coulthard jokingly takes credit score for: “That was primarily because of me! Nevertheless it was only a breath of contemporary air within the paddock. The paddock is a a lot friendlier place now than it was once. Crimson Bull has needed to tighten entry over time, however to start with it was an open home, with lunches for media and so forth.

“After a time frame it turned clear that different groups introduced in lower-level companions that they couldn’t cater for and ended up bringing them to Crimson Bull!” Horner too appears again on these early days with a smile: “We have been just about the one staff the place you didn’t want 200 passes simply to get by means of the entrance door!”

It was very completely different on the staff Coulthard had spent so a few years at beforehand. “On the within, McLaren was a pleasant and open place as effectively,” he displays. “However on the outside it was type of limitations down and that was the best way Ron favored to manage data out of the staff. I respect that as he was the boss, he was the proprietor. However the lasting legacy is that Crimson Bull did issues in a different way.”

This distinction is mirrored in an amusing anecdote about magazines that Crimson Bull revealed, and nonetheless publishes through the Austrian Grand Prix. “They got here up with the Crimson Bulletin, {a magazine} for the paddock,” recollects Coulthard. “I do know that Ron type of banned the McLaren mechanics from taking it into the hospitality.

Sebastian Vettel with the Crimson Bulletin

Picture by: Crimson Bull GmbH and GEPA footage GmbH

“It will be sometimes Ron, however I’m positive he was studying them. In his workplace – I used to be there for 9 years – he stated ‘I don’t learn any magazines’ after which he’d open his high drawer and also you’d see all of the magazines! It’s notion versus actuality. These are simply individuals, regardless of how they could seem on the outside. The identical utilized to Crimson Bull. The outside was the advertising and marketing aspect of the staff, however the inside was what we have been making an attempt to do, which was bettering the staff.”

In response to Horner, each issues go hand in hand: “After we first entered Method 1, we performed loud music within the garages and launched a hospitality that we known as the Power Station. Issues have been completely different, and due to that, individuals thought: ‘These guys aren’t critical. They’re not right here to win; they’re simply right here to have a superb time.’

“However that was completely not the case. We have been simply as decided to win as some other staff. We simply weren’t afraid to have some enjoyable alongside the best way and to specific ourselves in a different way. That hasn’t modified over time. We’re nonetheless the staff with the loudest music and I really feel sorry for whoever is subsequent to us, particularly since a few of our mechanics have a fairly doubtful music style these days…”

From get together staff to championship contender

Although the quantity of the music hasn’t modified, the outcomes have. In its first yr, Crimson Bull scored 34 factors, whereas the staff has now secured eight drivers’ titles and 6 constructors’ championships. “For that first yr, Mateschitz informed me: ‘I’m not going to pay you numerous, however for each level you rating, I’ll offer you a wholesome bonus’,” says Horner. “Jaguar had scored 9 factors the yr earlier than, so 10 or 11 factors would already be successful. However in our first race, we scored 9 factors and by the top of the yr we had 34. Thank God, in any other case I wouldn’t have been in a position to pay my mortgage!”

The world appears very completely different now, and the bar is ready a lot larger, however Coulthard noticed the seeds for Crimson Bull’s latest success being planted proper from the beginning. “100%, and belief me: if I hadn’t seen that, I wouldn’t have signed for them again then,” he provides.

Twenty years after signing Coulthard and getting into the collection because the paddock’s final get together staff, Horner smiles: “Whenever you take a look at the whole lot we’ve achieved to date, then it’s a must to say it is not too unhealthy for an power drink firm…”

Christian Klien

Picture by: Crimson Bull Racing