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Posts Tagged Red Bull

Raikkonen To Stay With Citroen for 2011

Aug 26

Posted by Insider in Citroen, Rally

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With everybody wondering and predicting Kimi Raikkonen’s future in motor racing for the 2011 campaign, Citroen decided to make one step towards securing his services for yet another season. Backed by sponsor Red Bull, Kimi has been rallying for Citroen’s Junior Team through the 2010 WRC, and the French manufacturer’s motorsport boss Olivier Quesnel admitted it would be great to retain the Finn in a Citroen machine for yet another season.

“We like Kimi and we want him with us next year. We will be very pleased if he wants to stay with us,” admitted Quesnel, who will not only have to fight against the prospect of Raikkonen going back to Formula One, but also the other rally teams that seem to be interested in his services.

Earlier this week, the Iceman admitted he’s having much more fun competing in rallying than what he had experienced in Formula One, but avoided giving any verdicts for 2011. Additionally, he also hinted his managers are talking to other WRC teams, so his collaboration with Citroen might terminate at the end of this year.

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Schumacher + Red Bull = Wins

Jul 8

Posted by Insider in F1, Mercedes-Benz

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Bernie Ecclestone once again reiterated his belief that Michael Schumacher’s poor performances at his return in Formula One are not the result of lost skills, but a rather poorly-designed car. According to the F1 supremo, the overall classification would have looked completely different with Schumacher at the wheel of a Red Bull RB6.

“He has found a much more difficult situation than he would have counted on. It’s not a question of him, but of the car. If Michael was sitting in the Red Bull, he would immediately be as he was before,” said the 79-year old Englishman in a recent interview with Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport. Read the rest of this entry »

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Red Bull Exhaust System Copied

Jun 21

Posted by Insider in F1, News

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As Red Bull have been the team to beat from the first race of the 2010 Formula One season, it was only a matter of time until some of the elements introduced by design guru Adrian Newey on the RB6 would appear elsewhere in the pit lane.

Earlier this month, we reported that Ferrari was already preparing a new exhaust system for their F10 – to be debuted as early as this weekend’s race at Valencia – sourced from the one used by Red Bull Racing. The RB6 features a low-mounted exhaust system, which helps the airflow travel more efficiently into the rear diffuser, therefore increasing the downforce level.

The new system is believed to cut more than half of second per lap, and will reportedly be copied by Mercedes GP, McLaren Mercedes and Renault within weeks. Following their consecutive 1-2 finishes in Turkey and Canada, McLaren Mercedes are reportedly preparing a major update of their own for Silverstone, where the new exhausts are believed to make it to the MP4-25. Read the rest of this entry »

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Webber’s Contract Renew?

May 17

Posted by Insider in F1

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Red Bull revealed it would want to keep Mark Webber at the team for next season. The Australian’s contract expires at the end of this year and Red Bull would like to extend it.

The Australian’s younger team-mate, Sebastian Vettel, is already under contract for next year, so if Red Bull extends Webber’s contract it would have the same pair of drivers in 2011.

“It is our desire to continue with Vettel and Webber“, said Helmut Marko, the motor sport adviser of team owner Dietrich Mateschitz, quoted by Austrian news agency APA.

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Red Bull Asked Vettel to Pull Out ?

May 10

Posted by Insider in F1, News

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Sebastian Vettel has revealed he was asked to pull out of the race by his Red Bull team before finishing the Spanish Grand Prix in third place.

With 15 laps to go, the Red Bull driver suffered braking problem and made a pitstop so that the damage could be inspected. Before sending the young German onto the circuit, mechanics and engineers noticed a brake disc was damaged.

“When I got back out the team told me that I should quit the race,” Vettel said in an interview with Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport. “They said the risk because of the broken brake was too great. I asked them if that was really necessary or whether I could just drive slowly and pick up some points“, Vettel added.

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Vettel, It Was Not Brake Related

Mar 30

Posted by Insider in Brakes, F1

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The fact that Sebastian Vettel’s problems in the 2010 Australian Grand Prix have not been brake-related, as initially believed, is no news to anyone, as it had emerged shortly after the race had ended that it was in fact a damaged wheel mounting that caused the German to lose control of his car and run into the gravel.

Following his DNF in the gravel, Vettel was heard by the worldwide audience of the Aussie race telling his team, via radio, that his front left brake had been damaged. And, although the reports has been denied by Red Bull a couple of hours later, Brembo (official braking system supplier for Red Bull) wanted to clear their image of further potential negative reports today.

Through a media statement on Tuesday, Brembo clarified that the cause of Vettel’s failure was not in anyway connected to the brakes.

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Loose Wheel Nut Cause Vettel accident

Mar 29

Posted by Insider in F1, News

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It took the Red Bull mechanics only 15 minutes to identify the cause of Sebastian Vettel’s problem in the Australian GP, and the result has been confirmed a while back. It seems it’s not a braking issue that caused Vettel to lose control of his car and record his first DNF of 2010, but “a damaged wheel mounting.”

Midway through the race, the German was comfortably leading the race at Albert Park, when he suddenly lost control of his RB6 and hit the gravel. In his first conversation with the team via radio, he told his race engineer that a problem with the front left-hand brake caused his run-off excursion.

However, according to a report from the GMM news agency, the team conducted some further investigation on the problem and it seems the “damaged wheel mounting due to a vibrating wheel nut was the cause” of the incident.

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Red Bull Pit Stops in 2 Seconds

Mar 8

Posted by Insider in F1

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Some time ago, we were reporting that pit stops will probably take under 3 seconds in 2010, given the refueling ban introduced by the International Automobile Federation (FIA) for the upcoming campaign. However, with the majority of the teams testing the new pit stops during recent test meetings, it seems some stops will take even less than 2 seconds.

According to Red Bull Racing’s boss Christian Horner, the mechanics of the Milton Keynes based team have managed a record 1.8 pit stop after some intense hours of practice. Although unofficial, this result means that ultra-speedy pit stops will likely become a regular thing in the series through 2010, given the new devices the teams have debuted this winter.

“We have done sub-two second stops. They are absolutely lightning,” said Horner. “The guys have trained like hell over the winter. They have all lost weight and got fitter in the process. The guys have been training in the gym at 12 and 4pm every day since November.“

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Lotus F1 Car is Worse than Minardi’s

Mar 1

Posted by Insider in F1, Lotus

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The last day of testing on the Barcelona track on Sunday marked the official finale of the off-season test in Formula One. Less than two weeks from now, the cars will rejoin an official race track to battle for the first points of the new season, meaning that most of the work should have already been finalized in the garage by now.

If the test on the Spanish track has been quite successful for teams such as McLaren, Ferrari or Red Bull, the newly entrants have suffered for most of the time during the month of February. Struggling with lack of spare parts and an aerodynamic package in an incipient stage, both Virgin Racing and Lotus F1 Team ended the testing in Jerez and Barcelona more than 4 or 5 seconds off the leading pace.

Talking to Finland’s Turun Sanomat, Lotus’ Heikki Kovalainen made a comparison between his new T127 model and the Minardi car he used to take to the testing track some 6 years ago. And the results are quite worrying for the Malaysian officials at Lotus.

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Kimi Raikkonen Seems Interested

Feb 9

Posted by Insider in Rally

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Ever since Kimi Raikkonen was confirmed by Citroen Junior Team for the upcoming season of the World Rally Championship, people started asking questions about his potential return to Formula One. Quite odd, we might think, especially since the Finnish driver continuously stated that his dream ever since he was a little boy was to compete in rallies.

Nevertheless, his backing from Austrian company Red Bull in the 2010 WRC immediately led to reports that the former F1 champion is considering coming back to the Great Circus as a Red Bull driver, replacing Australian driver Mark Webber (whose deal with the team runs out at the end of 2010).

If neither of the two parties - Kimi on the one hand, and Red Bull on the other - hinted that such a move would be possible, one of the Milton Keynes team’s important official reckoned for the first time that such a prospect is “interesting,” rather than a simple rumor.

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