We will have to keep guessing until next weekend about who will emerge as the 2010 drivers’ champion, but in Brazil on Sunday Red Bull answered one of this season’s burning questions, clinching their maiden constructors’ crown in brilliant style - and with one race in hand - with a dominant one-two result.
Although with the dream car they had at their disposal, it’s felt like a long time coming, it’s a phenomenal achievement for a team built from the remnants of Jaguar just six short years ago.
After coming closer than anyone had thought possible to beating Brawn GP in the 2009 title chase, Red Bull always had high expectations for the 2010 season. The Adrian Newey-designed RB6 set the pace during much of winter testing and Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber - a perfect combination of youth and experience - represented a strong, stable driver line-up for the year ahead.
But then came Fernando Alonso’s dominant win for Ferrari at the season opener in Bahrain, where Red Bull’s reliability issues rendered their storming qualifying pace void, as Vettel finished fourth with spark plug problems, and a disappointed Webber only eighth. At round two in Australia they clinched the front row of the grid with ease, but in the race a DNF - a wheel issue for Vettel - and ninth for a poor-starting Webber were the best they could manage. They had the fastest car, but already they looked to be throwing away the championship. Formula 1
Christian Horner says Red Bull Racing’s constructors’ championship victory proves to the world that it is more than just a “party team” and is now a match for legendary squads like Ferrari and McLaren.
“It’s an unbelievable result,” said Horner.
“In six years this team came from being a team that nobody considered seriously and thought was maybe just a party team.
“Thanks to the tremendous dedication of all the team members who have worked collectively together so well, and the support from Red Bull and the unstinting vision and commitment from Dietrich Mateschitz, it’s a very proud day for everyone in the team.
“To have done it in such dominant fashion is very special.”
Although Red Bull’s habit of letting victories slip away through various disasters has been one of the stories of the 2010 season, Horner said his crew could hold their heads high.
“That was our eighth grand prix victory this year, our fourth one-two finish and our 14th victory in total,” he pointed out. ITV
Pos Team Points 1 RBR-Renault 469 2 McLaren-Mercedes 421 3 Ferrari 389 4 Mercedes GP 202 5 Renault 145 6 Williams-Cosworth 69 7 Force India-Mercedes 68 8 BMW Sauber-Ferrari 44 9 STR-Ferrari 11 10 Lotus-Cosworth 0 11 HRT-Cosworth 0 12 Virgin-Cosworth 0
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