Former F1 driver Mark Webber thinks Red Bull’s success “might be more celebrated” if it were run as a team for a carmaker. Max Verstappen won the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix, and Red Bull achieved its 100th victory in the F1 World Championship. The feat has been achieved by only four teams in the 73-year history of the F1 world championship: Ferrari, McLaren, Williams and Mercedes.
In just 14 years since Sebastian Vettel won the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix ahead of then-teammate Webber, Red Bull has achieved 100 victories in 18 years from 1979 to 1997. It became the fastest team to reach 100 wins in F1, after Williams. Red Bull, McLaren and Williams have all been de facto factory teams at some stage in their history, with Red Bull set to produce engines jointly with Ford from 2026. In the early days of Red Bull’s 18-year history as a Formula 1 contender, the energy drink company’s owners liked to put together flashy marketing campaigns and events, so they were simply a ‘party team’. It struggled to shake off its reputation for being overkill. The situation has changed a lot since Red Bull started winning in 2009. It was one season after Vettel won the 2008 Italian Grand Prix with the junior team then called Toro Rosso. In particular, by hiring Adrian Newey from 2006, he achieved four crowns in four years from 2010 to 2013, and now Max Verstappen leads the team and regains that position. Webber sees the Red Bull story as ‘one of the great success stories in F1 – it has to be’. “If it had been a manufacturer, it would have been more admired and notorious,” said Webber, who won nine F1 races with Red Bull from 2007 to 2013. “Essentially with an incredible individual who has done an amazing job winning Constructors’ and Drivers’ titles, engineering beautiful Formula 1 cars for the World Championship and being a dominance in many ways. “It’s still a team made up of people.” “So I think their ability to make it possible is a great success story.” The amount of money we put in is a testament to that.” “The employees, the people, and their strong commitment to the sport is second to none, but it’s great.” It’s come and gone, and they’ve come in two teams, and the level of hiring that Red Bull has put into the sport is truly extraordinary.”
2023-08-14 03:47:45
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