Red Bull Racing is a Formula One team owned by Austrian drinks company Red Bull. Red Bull purchased Jaguar Racing, when the team's parent company Ford announced their withdrawal from Formula 1 at the end of the 2004 season, for an amount reputedly as high as $110 million. The genus of the current team started in the mid to late 1990s with Jackie Stewart's Stewart Formula One team in 1997. The team became quite competitive by 1999, winning a race in its own right in its final year. Ford, as part of its global marketing operations, bought the team outright and renamed the team Jaguar, which is a premium car company owned by Ford. However, during the years of Ford's ownership, the team was unable to revive its performances of 1999. Three management changes in the five years that it existed, including names such as triple world F1 champion Niki Lauda and CART champion Bobby Rahal, including an abortive attempt to lure McLaren's incumbent technical director Adrian Newey led to inconsistent results over that period.
Jaguar's Formula 1 parent company, Ford, issued a polite ultimatum as part of a reduction in sport involvement internationally. In particular, because Jaguar did not advertise the core Ford brand, there was little return of value from the enormous amount of money invested. Funding was reduced from Ford itself. Ford chose to sell the operation near the end of 2004 despite a more consistent showing in the previous 2 years.
Red Bull, a large energy drinks company, confirmed on 15 November 2004 that they had bought all of the assets of the defunct Jaguar Formula 1 team from Ford. The team continued to have access to the Cosworth engine developed for the chassis for the 2005 season, and the operation continued under the new title.
Red Bull's owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, is trying to bring former Formula 1 driver and BMW Motorsport chief (and fellow-Austrian) Gerhard Berger on board to help guide the team through its debut season.
For 2005, the chassis has been christened the RB1. The team has former Mclaren driver David Coulthard driving one car and 2004 Jaguar driver Christian Klien and 2004 F3000 champion Vitantonio Liuzzi sharing the driving of the second car. Both drivers will be given the opportunity to race during 2005; their results will determine who will race for the rest of the season
Management-wise, Red Bull is run by F3000 team Arden International boss Christian Horner.
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Last updated: 05-17-2005 11:53:09
