Red Bull

Welcome back to the final instalment of my Team History section. I sincerely hope you've enjoyed reading about the teams just as much as I have writing them, I also hope you discovered something you didn't know and that your Formula 1 knowledge is boosted!

As I draw this to a close it's important to state that after a long winter, we have finally come to the start of the 2013 season! Engines will start in Melbourne very soon and I pray we have an exciting season just like last year.

My blog this week is about the current stars of the F1 paddock and depending on your cynicism and naivety, this success can either be attributed to one individual or another. Never shared. But as most F1 stories, success did not happen overnight, where did it all begin for Dietrich Mateschitz Red Bull team?

STEWART GRAND PRIX

First Entered: 1997

Pole Positions: 1

Race Wins: 1

Points: 47

Constructors Championships: 0

Drivers Championships: 0

The Red Bull success story starts with a father-son business in the form of three time world champion Sir Jackie Stewart and his son Paul. The early form of the team was poor but in a rain effected Monaco Grand Prix, Rubens Barrichello managed a second place finish, but this proved to be a success from the elements as the feat was not achieved again until their final season when Barrichello took them to another three podiums. For a short lived and small team, they can boast a one race win from the European Grand Prix when Johnny Herbert after he inherited the win following multiple race incidents. 

JAGUAR RACING

First Entered: 2000

Pole Positions: 0

Race Wins: 0

Points: 49

Constructors Championships: 0

Drivers Championships: 0

Stewart's engine supplier Ford bought the team off the father-son duo and renamed the team after the British sports car manufacturer, a move which boosted Jaguar's sales and popularity. Even though they scored more points, Jaguar never achieved that race win, and they certainly had the talent to do it with Eddie Irvine and Johnny Herbert driving for them. Current Ferrari test driver Pedro de la Rosa had a race role with the team, achieving point finishes. 

This would also mark the first time when Mark Webber would join what would become his current team.

INFINITI RED BULL RACING

First Entered: 2005

Pole Positions: 46

Race Wins: 34

Points: 1864.5

Constructors Championships: 3

Drivers Championships: 3

The current crop of glory boys first joined F1 in 2005, and unlike most debuting teams they scored a double points finish. Fan favourite David Coulthard was the lead driver right up until his retirement which saw him paired up with Mark Webber for a few seasons.

The Milton-Keynes team was headed by Christian Horner since Red Bull re-branded Jaguar and was key to organising the early success, but the next two points are the debate about where the true success and glory comes from.

F1 genius Adrian Newey joined the team in 2006, the year which coincidently saw them grab their first podiums. It wasn't long until the momentum started picking up. Podiums became race wins, race wins accumulated to runners up in 2009, then 2010 saw them complete the double, a trend which has continued right up until the season gone by. 

RB9

The next point is about to cause a whole load of controversy  but I'm never one to shy away from the truth. 2009 saw the first race win, thanks to Sebastian Vettel the man who has since dominated the sport.

Why has he dominated? Be under no illusion, it's not all down to him. Puppet boy is only doing a job whereby you need to be able to handle a Formula 1 car. If you were to strip away any advantage and give a stock car to him and any other driver, I guarantee you you'll see just how average Vettel is. Why the disdain for Seb? I hated his dominance in 2011. People would retaliate with "Schumacher done the same." Well my reply to you sir/madam: "Schumacher was not a hateful little git despite what you may think." The seven time world champion did also not throw his toys out of the pram like our current world champion.

No matter what you think, Red Bull are a quick team, and something tells me their dominance is about to continue. But I cannot bring myself to accept the fact that puppet boy will fluke another four championships to bring himself level to Schumi, or even beat him. That would be disastrous for my love for the sport. This season, they have a lot more resistance and I don't he can make it to four.

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Force India

Welcome back to my spin off blog detailing the pasts of the current Formula 1 teams on the grid today!

The one-off blog is well under way now, today we're looking at the Sahara Force India team. Owned my Dr. Vijay Mallya since 2008, Force India have made great progress. I have given the start of their 2013 a real hard time as they have yet to announce a full driver line up. Their only driver so far is Britain's Paul di Resta who joined the team in 2011 following his successes in the DTM. I covered the Force India story briefly on my main blog but here is a closer look at some of the previous teams we knew before Force India.

JORDAN



First Entered: 1991
Pole Positions: 2
Race Wins: 4
Points: 259
Constructors Championships: 0
Drivers Championships: 0









They were known as the rockstars of Formula 1, fronted by probably the most eccentric man in the history of the sport. Irishman Eddie Jordan. Sporting a colourful yellow livery, the team were liked throughout the entire paddock. Jordan can also boast a tremendous alumni, including; Rubens Barichello, fellow Ulsterman Eddie Irvine, Damon Hill, Jean Alesi, Ralf Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella. The team can also be responsible for introducing some of the greatest technical minds. Fellow BBC annalist Gary Anderson (also from Northern Ireland), Mike Gascoyne, and Rob Smedly are among the few. Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of Jordan's career was giving Formula 1 deity, Michael Schumacher his very first drive. I think Jordan have done more for this sport than some of the teams we know and love.

 MIDLAND


 

First Entered: 2006
Pole Positions: 0
Race Wins: 0
Points: 0
Constructors Championships: 0
Drivers Championships: 0





After Jordan sold the team over to Canadian business man Alex Shnaider, although it was adminstarated as the first Russian team to reflect Shniader's background. The team was highly unsuccessful competing only one season before being sold on again to Dutch manufacturers Spyker.

SPYKER





First Entered: 2007
Pole Positions: 0
Race Wins: 0
Points: 1
Constructors Championships: 0
Drivers Championships: 0






Like it's predecessors, the team failed to live up to much and ran through four drivers in their short campaign. Adrian Sutil was the only driver to survive. So thanks for that guys. A real BIG thanks (To those who aren't British, this is known as sarcasm). But the misery for the history of this particular Formula 1 past was about to end as Force India's presence became known.

FORCE INDIA




First Entered: 2008
Pole Positions: 1
Race Wins: 0
Points: 259
Constructors Championships: 0
Drivers Championships: 0









Starting out in a Ferrari engine, Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella started off in the 2008, failing to score any points, although in 2009 Fisichella made the jump from Force India to Ferrari following Felipe Massa's accident which took him out for the rest of the season. This would however be the last time he raced in Formula 1. That same season saw them score their first points and marked a considerable improvement in form. In 2011 they welcomed British driver Paul di Resta to the team following his championship win in the DTM. 

In 2013, the team has so far yet to announce a second driver, a move which I personally think is absolutely disgraceful. I do however hope it is another rookie, this way di Resta will get full backing from the team and then hopefully a move up in the Formula 1 world. The boy can race and all he wants to do is win races.




The team has certainly involved from race winning Jordan through to point scoring Force India. The middle parts of this tale will surely be forgotten in time, but the history of this team predicts a strong future.