Red Bull Racing: Never Stop Improving

In the space of 6 years, Red Bull Racing rose from the ashes of the Jaguar F1 Team to win both the Constructors’ and Drivers’ World Championships in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 with driver Sebastian Vettel.

Leadership

‘A common dream and target’ is how Red Bull describes the way it encourages people to high performance. Designing, building, maintaining and driving an F1 racing car requires amazing commitment from everyone involved. Red Bull’s F1 racing team employs over 500 people and every one of them makes a tangible contribution to the team’s success. They earn their place on the team by being fantastic at what they do, by being recognized as a great team player and able to improve what they do year on year without being coerced into it. Uppermost in Red Bull’s mind-set is that talent is not enough. Everyone in the team must be passionate about winning, safety, reliability and communication.

Customer Focus

Red Bull owner, Dietrich Mateschitz bought the ailing Jaguar F1 team in 2004 as a sponsorship opportunity to fit his vision of encouraging young talent while building a successful business. His approach to innovation shocked the industry. He created the pop-up Red Bull Energy Station which set new standards for team hospitality, with catering by Michelin-starred chefs, music from guest DJs, games and entertainment and a fantastic roof garden. Press standards were also raised as the Red Bull Marketing team focused on making sure they communicated regularly and by allowing unheard of access to the team.

Specialists working as a team

Red Bull believes its success is because of the way the various specialists in the team operate together to continuously improve what they do. The team consists of Specialists in vehicle dynamics, simulation, reliability and race engineering materials science, design and management.

From the design team who create and develop the winning cars, the engineers who keep the car going, the two dedicated and the talented drivers to the sales and marketing teams who keep the fans, media and sponsors informed. Everyone works together in an essential role.

Following a process

The starting point to designing a better car each season is a conversation. The design team gathers together to share intelligence on how the Red Bull car performed the last season, how competitors’ cars were running in the last season, regulation changes and ideas from the design team on how to improve the car.

They follow a four-step process of analysis: aerodynamic efficiency, mechanical efficiency, engine and driver. Get all four of these steps right and the team is unbeatable.

Focus on regulations and safety

Regulatory issues take priority when it comes to the design of the car. Red Bull has to conform to the standards set by their regulatory body, the FIA. These include safety, funding rules, qualifications and disciplinary measures. Any deviation and someone may get hurt or the team disqualified. Safety is applied first to everything the team does. Uppermost is the safety of the driver, the pit lane team and the spectators.

Every time there is a regulation change, a senior group within the Red Bull racing design team meets to assess the implications of the changes especially related to safety. Likewise if the design team comes up with an innovation, they will check the FIA rules to make sure there are no conflicts and no negative impact on safety.

The Red Bull team also identifies risks related to driving and maintaining the race cars. Response plans are developed in preparation for emergencies that may result from these risks including medical evacuation and fire-fighting. The response plans are regularly validated through exercises.

The Result

Six years of hard work led to The Constructors’ World Championship Trophy and Sebastian Vettel becoming the youngest ever world champion in 2010 then continuing this run of success into the 2011, 2012 and 2013 seasons.

Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing, summed up the feeling when they won the first titles in 2010: ‘It is unbelievable. To see the joy on the faces of so many, who have put in so much. I don’t think there is a more dedicated and committed team in the pit lane. To have achieved what we have achieved is very much a dream come true.’

Teamwork is everything for Red Bull – no matter the role. Everyone contributes to being the world champion.