Jaguar Racing was put up for sale in September 2004 when Ford decided "it [could] no longer make a compelling business case for any of its brands to compete in F1."[1] Red Bull, a large energy drinks company, agreed its purchase of Jaguar Racing on the final day of the sale, 15 November 2004.[2] BBC Sport reported that Ford asked bidders for a symbolic US$1 in return for a committment to invest US$400 million in the team over three grand prix seasons.[2] The team continued to have access to the Cosworth engine developed for their 2005 chassis, and the operation continued under the new title.
Red Bull Racing was not the start of Red Bull's involvement in motorsport. Setting up a Formula One team of its own meant that Red Bull had to end its long-term partnership with the Sauber Formula One team. The drinks company also runs a young drivers programme, Red Bull Junior Team, whereby Red Bull sponsors promising young drivers. High-profile drivers who have received this backing include Enrique Bernoldi, Christian Klien, Patrick Friesacher, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed. Red Bull also sponsors many drivers and teams competing in the GP2 Series, Formula One's "feeder" series.
Red Bull Racing was one of only four teams (the others being Ferrari, Midland F1 and WilliamsF1) to have signed the Concorde Agreement starting in 2008, guaranteeing its long-term involvement in Formula One. However, more recently further teams have submitted entries securing the future of Formula One.
2005
Red Bull's owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, reportedly tried to recruit former Formula One driver and BMW Motorsport chief (and fellow Austrian) Gerhard Berger to help guide the team through its debut season. However, this was never realised. For 2005, the chassis was christened the RB1. Red Bull Racing used Cosworth engines in its maiden year due to the ease of continuing with the engine Jaguar Racing used.
Former McLaren driver David Coulthard led the team. Coulthard was chosen for his experience, considered ideal to help lead the fledgling team. For the second car, Red Bull shared the drive between two of its young sponsored drivers: Christian Klien, who had driven for Jaguar in 2004 and 2004 F3000 champion Vitantonio Liuzzi. At first it was announced that Klien and Liuzzi would swap driving duty every four races, but by the end of the season Liuzzi had appeared only four times.
Red Bull's first year in Formula 1 was a massive success compared to their predecessors, Jaguar Racing. They were 6th in the Constructors Championship for most of the season, only beaten by the fast-improving BAR Honda's at the end of the season. In a single season they amassed more points than Jaguar had in 2003 and 2004. Coulthard, after a poor 2003 and 2004 with McLaren was a revelation for the team while Klien showed that he has vastly improved from 2004. In all they collected 34 Points, 24 for Coulthard, 9 for Klien and 1 for Liuzzi. Red Bull was a consistent points and occasional podium challenger for most of their debut season.
American driver Scott Speed, who rose through the ranks in the American equivalent of Red Bull Junior Team, Red Bull Driver Search, was Red Bull Racing's third driver in 2005 for the Canadian and United States Grand Prix. Speed is attractive to Red Bull because he is an American, which could increase the profile of both Red Bull and Formula One in America, a market where the sport has struggled to make an impact.
2006
On 23 April 2005, the team announced a deal to use Ferrari engines in 2006. This coincided with a rule change mandating the use of V8 engines, making it likely that both Red Bull Racing and Ferrari would use the same specification engine. Red Bull Racing continued to use Michelin tyres, rather than the Bridgestones used by Ferrari and came to be seen as politically close to Ferrari (much like Sauber used to be).
On December 15, 2005 the team's second car, the Red Bull RB2, hit the track for the first time. David Coulthard completed a handful of laps of the Silverstone circuit in England, and declared the new car was a "sexy thing." In early testing Red Bull was plagued with cooling problems and overheating of car components.
At the opening race of the 2006 season in Bahrain Christian Klien qualified eighth (ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella's Renault and both BMWs). Coulthard had problems when he flat spotted a tyre fighting with Nick Heidfeld, and finished 10th; the cooling problems returned when his Ferrari engine expired on the slowing down lap, forcing a grid penalty for the following race. In Malaysia, Coulthard made up several places from back of the grid but was forced to retire with hydraulic problems, while Klien had an opening lap incident with Kimi Raikkonen and also retired. Coulthard got a point in the Australian Grand Prix after Scott Speed was penalised for passing him under the yellow flags. The following races were marred with retirements and lowly finishes.
Coulthard finished 3rd at the Monaco Grand Prix, the team's first podium finish. Team boss Christian Horner said before the race that if one of his cars were to finish on the podium, he would jump in to a swimming pool at the track naked. He ended up jumping into the pool wearing only a red cape. Conincidentally both Stewart Grand Prix and Jaguar, the team's predecessors, also scored their maiden podiums at that race.
Coulthard scored a point at Montreal, passing fellow Briton Jenson Button in the closing stages of the race. Klien also fared well, driving the second RB2 to 11th position. At the U.S Grand Prix Klien retired along with eight other cars including Torro Rosso driver Scott Speed on the first lap after a series of first corner incidents. Coulthard finished 7th.
The team finished 7th in the FIA Constructors Championship, with 16 points, five points ahead of the Williams team. David Coulthard (13pts) finished in 13th place in the drivers' standings, the departed Klien (2pts) classified in 18th position. Klien's replacement, Robert Doornbos, failed to score any points. On November 8, 2005 Red Bull Racing poached Adrian Newey, the highly successful McLaren technical director.
2007 Season
2007 saw the debut of the Adrian Newey designed RB3. After lengthy discussions over Red Bull Racing's obligation to continue to use Ferrari engines for 2007, the team announced on 31 August 2006 they would use Renault engines for the 2007 season [1], the Ferrari contract being passed to Scuderia Toro Rosso.
The team announced on August 7th 2006 that it had signed Mark Webber to drive alongside David Coulthard for the 2007 season, replacing Christian Klien who ended his association with the team. Klien was replaced by Robert Doornbos for the last three races of 2006.[2]. Robert Doornbos has been announced as the teams third driver for 2007.
