From occasion crew to world champion: How Crimson Bull joined F1 20 years in the past

The 12 months is 2004 and David Coulthard is in his closing season with McLaren. DC – because the Scot is thought – is aware of that his future is not going to be with the Woking-based crew and {that a} sure Juan Pablo Montoya is ready to take his place. He has to search for different choices and attracts curiosity from Jaguar. The crew with the gorgeous deep-green livery has Mark Webber and Christian Klien as its drivers however sees Coulthard’s expertise as a superb choice to maneuver the squad ahead.

Along with supervisor Martin Brundle, Coulthard discusses the professionals and cons of a possible swap to Jaguar, however their conclusion is evident. “I made a decision that I’d not signal for Jaguar – I’d relatively give up System 1 than signal with them,” the youthful Briton tells Motorsport.com almost 20 years on.

Coulthard has no confidence in Jaguar and the crew’s management, though an surprising lifeline comes from Crimson Bull. The vitality drink model joins forces with a younger Christian Horner, who’s making an attempt to make his manner into System 1.

“I began my very own crew in what’s now System 2 and competed towards Helmut Marko’s crew,” Horner remembers on the Speaking Bull podcast. “In 2002, 2003 and 2004, I received the championship three years in a row and I used to be seeking to take that crew into System 1.

“Bernie Ecclestone was pushing me, saying: ‘We’d like new, younger blood in F1. I need to do away with this man, Eddie Jordan, he’s driving me mad, so why don’t you purchase his crew? I’ll provide help to.’ I attempted to place a deal collectively and, on the identical time, I used to be working a Crimson Bull junior driver, Vitantonio Liuzzi, that Helmut Marko had positioned with me.

“The take care of the Jordan crew grew to become increasingly sophisticated and, within the meantime, Crimson Bull acquired Jaguar in November 2004. Later that month, Helmut rang me up and mentioned: ‘Dietrich want to see you.’ So I went to Salzburg and Mateschitz informed me: ‘I need to change the administration, I’ve received huge ambitions with this crew, and I am prepared to take an opportunity on you.’ I used to be solely 31 years of age and didn’t have to consider it for too lengthy.”

Robert Doornbos, Arden Worldwide, Christian Horner, Arden F3000 Boss and Vitantonio Liuzzi, Arden Worldwide have fun

Photograph by: Sutton Pictures

Horner takes over as crew boss and has his sights set on Coulthard as properly. “Christian got here in, however he nonetheless had to determine which door led to which division at Jaguar!” the Scot jokes. “I keep in mind that the crew wished me to signal earlier than going to the primary take a look at. However I mentioned: ‘No, let me go to the take a look at and let me uncover concerning the crew.’

“I knew a few of the individuals as I labored with them at Paul Stewart Racing, however you want good management, you want funding and also you want those who make everybody imagine that that is the precise path for you. That’s what I felt was missing. I went to the take a look at and mentioned: ‘If I do a superb job, you need to signal me. And should you do a superb job, I need to be with you.’”

Secret dinner with Adrian Newey

Throughout that day, Coulthard has in depth conversations with Dietrich Mateschitz. “Dietrich got here to the take a look at – I sat with him and frolicked to search out out what his imaginative and prescient for the game was,” Coulthard remembers. “Clearly I knew that he’d been a part-owner of Sauber and he’d been a visual sponsor of that crew for a very long time, so he wasn’t a beginner that abruptly arrived and had gone ‘System 1 is the flavour of my month and let’s see what enjoyable we are able to have with this’. There was a long-term technique in place.”

What appeals much more is that Coulthard will get some freedom to form the technique: “You make choices primarily based on relationships and belief, and Dietrich by no means let me down in something he dedicated to.

“Within the early days I spent a variety of time instantly with him in Salzburg on a Monday after a grand prix to debate the place we have been, what we would have liked and what individuals can be greatest to serve the crew. He didn’t all the time say sure, after all not, as a result of that’s not the sport. However on the issues that you simply actually believed in, not primarily based on a PowerPoint presentation however primarily based on ardour and the assumption that this particular person will change the fortunes of the crew, then 9 instances out of 10 he would go ‘OK, you’re empowered to assist and construct the crew’.”

One of many individuals to vary the fortunes of the crew goes by the title of Adrian Newey. The legendary designer is excessive on Horner’s want checklist, and Coulthard is aware of him properly from their time at Williams and McLaren. “David labored even quicker than Tinder these days! The match was there very quickly,” Horner jokes. “He arrange a secret dinner at Bluebird in London with Adrian and his spouse – as a result of, in the long run, ladies make all the selections – and that’s how we received to know one another.”

Adrian Newey and David Coulthard

Photograph by: DaimlerChrysler

That dinner results in a gathering with Mateschitz, and through that dialog, Newey is satisfied to hitch the younger however formidable challenge. On 8 November 2005, each events announce that one of the vital sought-after males within the paddock is making the transfer to Crimson Bull Racing. “That was an important second for us,” says Horner. “Earlier than that, individuals didn’t actually take us significantly, and one of many predominant objectives of a race weekend was to get into one of many Crimson Bull events. However when Adrian joined our crew, that modified, and other people stopped seeing us as a celebration crew.”

The magazines that have been banned by Ron Dennis

Particularly in its debut 12 months, Crimson Bull is thought for its events, one thing Coulthard jokingly takes credit score for: “That was primarily due to me! However it was only a breath of recent air within the paddock. The paddock is a a lot friendlier place now than it was once. Crimson Bull has needed to tighten entry over time, however at first it was an open home, with lunches for media and so forth.

“After a time frame it grew to become clear that different groups introduced in lower-level companions that they couldn’t cater for and ended up bringing them to Crimson Bull!” Horner too seems again on these early days with a smile: “We have been just about the one crew the place you didn’t want 200 passes simply to get via the entrance door!”

It was very completely different on the crew Coulthard had spent so a few years at beforehand. “On the within, McLaren was a pleasant and open place as properly,” he displays. “However on the outside it was sort of boundaries down and that was the way in which Ron favored to regulate data out of the crew. I respect that as he was the boss, he was the proprietor. However the lasting legacy is that Crimson Bull did issues in another way.”

This distinction is mirrored in an amusing anecdote about magazines that Crimson Bull revealed, and nonetheless publishes throughout the Austrian Grand Prix. “They got here up with the Crimson Bulletin, {a magazine} for the paddock,” remembers Coulthard. “I do know that Ron form of banned the McLaren mechanics from taking it into the hospitality.

Sebastian Vettel with the Red Bulletin

Sebastian Vettel with the Crimson Bulletin

Photograph by: Crimson Bull GmbH and GEPA footage GmbH

“It could be sometimes Ron, however I’m certain he was studying them. In his workplace – I used to be there for 9 years – he mentioned ‘I don’t learn any magazines’ after which he’d open his prime drawer and also you’d see all of the magazines! It’s notion versus actuality. These are simply individuals, regardless of how they might seem on the outside. The identical utilized to Crimson Bull. The outside was the advertising and marketing facet of the crew, however the inside was what we have been making an attempt to do, which was enhancing the crew.”

Based on Horner, each issues go hand in hand: “Once we first entered System 1, we performed loud music within the garages and launched a hospitality that we referred to as the Power Station. Issues have been completely different, and due to that, individuals thought: ‘These guys aren’t critical. They’re not right here to win; they’re simply right here to have a superb time.’

“However that was completely not the case. We have been simply as decided to win as another crew. We simply weren’t afraid to have some enjoyable alongside the way in which and to specific ourselves in another way. That hasn’t modified over time. We’re nonetheless the crew with the loudest music and I really feel sorry for whoever is subsequent to us, particularly since a few of our mechanics have a reasonably doubtful music style these days…”

From occasion crew to championship contender

Although the quantity of the music hasn’t modified, the outcomes have. In its first 12 months, Crimson Bull scored 34 factors, whereas the crew has now secured eight drivers’ titles and 6 constructors’ championships. “For that first 12 months, Mateschitz informed me: ‘I’m not going to pay you numerous, however for each level you rating, I’ll offer you a wholesome bonus’,” says Horner. “Jaguar had scored 9 factors the 12 months earlier than, so 10 or 11 factors would already be successful. However in our first race, we scored 9 factors and by the tip of the 12 months we had 34. Thank God, in any other case I wouldn’t have been in a position to pay my mortgage!”

The world seems very completely different now, and the bar is ready a lot larger, however Coulthard noticed the seeds for Crimson Bull’s latest success being planted proper from the beginning. “100%, and belief me: if I hadn’t seen that, I wouldn’t have signed for them again then,” he provides.

Twenty years after signing Coulthard and getting into the sequence because the paddock’s final occasion crew, Horner smiles: “Once you have a look at every thing we’ve achieved up to now, then you need to say it is not too unhealthy for an vitality drink firm…”

Christian Klien