Red Bull Tag

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor From worst to first, Williams Martini Racing has turned around its biggest Achilles heel – their pitstop work. After several disastrous stops in 2014 and 2015 cost the team potential shots at victory, Rob Smedley knew something needed to change. The performance chief of the Grove based outfit put together an internal working group with the goal not only of abolishing mistakes in pitlane, but to become the best on the grid. After the first five races of 2016, the fruit of this endeavor has seenRead More

Max Verstappen became Formula One’s youngest ever race winner with victory in an enthralling Spanish Grand Prix that saw Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg collide at the start. Making his debut for Red Bull Racing, Verstappen took the lead midway through the race and remained icy cool in the closing stage as he came under intense pressure from Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. He crossed the line just 0.6s ahead of the Finn to win aged just 18 years and 227 days, breaking Sebastian Vettel’s seven-year-old record, set when theRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Welcome to our newest segment at Tribute Racing; Grand Prix Profile. The Grand Prix Profile, or GPP for short will be a look at each F1 venue, with a breakdown on its history and place in the sport. With the aim to give you a real glimpse at the heart and character of the many amazing places, the world’s most amazing sport visits. We begin in Spain, F1’s triumphant return to its European heartland comes early each May with the sports traditional visit to Circuit deRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor Word on the street is that Daniil Kvyat’s days at Red Bull Racing may be numbered. His clumsy double punting of Sebastian Vettel in the opening of last weekend’s Russian Grand Prix may well be the undoing of the promising young Russian’s season. According to multiple reports Red Bull boss Helmut Marko, not one to show mercy, may swap Kvyat with Max Verstappen for the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix. The move, which sounds unusually harsh even by Marko’s standards, may be more strategic than the kneeRead More

Nico Rosberg’s dream start to the 2016 season continued as the German took his second consecutive victory and his first in Bahrain and his first at the Gulf circuit. Kimi Raikkonen took his fifth second place with Lewis Hamilton recovering to third after a first-corner collision. Before the start there was disappointment for Ferrari as Sebastian Vettel, set to start from third, slowed on the formation lap with smoke billowing from the back of his car. His failure to start, the first of his career, meant a space opened onRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor Nico Rosberg led home a Mercedes one-two finish from Albert Park in what was a madcap start the 2016 season. Despite the typical result of a Mercedes double podium, the circuitous route the race took to its conclusion proved entertaining, terrifying and intense. The plot thickened before the race ever got underway as Daniil Kvyat’s Red Bull succumbed to electrical gremlins by stalling on the way to his grid position. The team ran to remove the car while the rest of the field embarked upon aRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor The 2016 Formula One season is finally underway, down under in Albert Park. Despite the soggy start, the excitement of fans world wide cannot be dampened. Before the drivers lay down their cards for qualifying a few hours from now, I will make five bold predictions on some of the more exciting stories of the season. Without further ado…. 5. All teams will score points Gone are the days when a lovable back marker like Minardi could only pray for points. Gone are the days whenRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor With the benefit of Ferrari power for 2016, Red Bull’s ambitious junior squad thinks that it can take aim at the podium with its talented young drivers this season. Last season rookie sensations Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz moved the team up a notch in the pecking order and despite some rookie mistakes and bad luck, had some excellent drives, including two 4th place finishes for Verstappen, at Hungary and Austin. Last year’s STR10 marked 10 years since Red Bull bought out lovable F1 backmarkers MinardiRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor After a series of fraught meetings in Geneva for the Strategy Group and the F1 Commission, officials have announced that the teams have reached an agreement on some of the changes for 2017, while a full consensus has been delayed to a new April 30th deadline in order for the finer details of the plan to be ironed out. After basic decisions about the future of the sport regarding an engine cost cap for 2018, and a baffling odd change to the qualifying system, F1 bosses haveRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor The second day of running in Barcelona once again saw Sebastian Vettel top the session for Ferrari. The four time champ lowered his best time from yesterday by two seconds after slapping on a set of Pirelli’s new ultra-soft compounds. Daniel Ricciardo had the second best time for Red Bull, also on the ultra-softs, but near 3/4th’s of a second behind the Ferrari. Sergio Perez validated Force India’s performance by putting in the third best lap of the day on the super-softs. Nico Rosberg took overRead More