Alvin's Formula One Blog

Daniel Ricciardo has been officially confirmed at Red Bull for next season replacing Mark Webber. This continues the tradition of having an Australian at Red Bull, will it also continue the tradition of the Australian being the number 2 driver? I could hear the howls of protestations at the news, including mine. Not that I wanted Kimi or Alonso to go there but doesn't matter who does, will they get equal treatment to Vettel after what we've seen the last 3 years? Of course on the surface of it, one would assume that Ricciardo will get the short end of the stick. He's new, young and a product of the Red Bull young driver program. Of course he has to toe the party line, even Red Bull die hards will have to admit as much. But if he outshines Vettel, will he get nipped in the bud? Will his car have some unexplained problems during races? Will his clutch fail to engage properly at starts? Will Helmut Marko...well, lets not even go there, we all know Helmut. Team boss Chri...

In the span of seven years, Red Bull built a lackluster F1 team into the three-time world champions and the most dominant presence in motor racing. Red Bull did something quite unprecedented when it bought its first Formula One team in 2005. It took a backmarker team - Jaguar Racing, itself rebranded from Stewart Grand Prix - and through a boatload of money at it. It took its first podium finish in only its second year on the grid, and was winning races by 2009. The rest, as they say, is history, as the team - headed by some of the top minds driven by two of the best drivers in the sport - went on to secure three back-to-back world championships. Watch the video above to learn their fascinating story.

It would seem that the Red Bulls have found new energy lately since Suzuka to lock out the front row of the last 2 races. Have they got wings or do they have the energy drink mixed in with their fuel? A lot of rumours is going round that they have mastered the rear wing DRS or DDRS (Double DRS). This coincided with their new wing they introduced in Singapore . Although the new wing was introduced in Singapore, it did not immediately become clear how the performance was going to affect the car. Vettel qualified P3 (6/10ths behind pole sitter Hamilton) and Webber P7 (1.1s behind). Those were huge numbers and I had thought at the time that finally the Bulls were losing some steam and we should still have an interesting end to the season. Then we came to Suzuka. In Suzuka suddenly the Bulls locked out the front row by half a second. Vettel then proceeded to win the race from lights to flag without breaking a sweat and leaving second placed Massa 20 seconds in his wake. It was a do...

Here we go again. It always happens doesn't it? And it's always McLaren. What is it about McLaren and F1 anyway? Now it seems that Ferrari and Red Bull are protesting McLaren's rear wing just before the championship is about to begin (and conveniently just after all testing has finished). "There's a bit of a fuss over McLaren's rear wing," says Red Bull's Christian Horner, according to the Daily Telegraph. "They have a slot on it that affects the air flow and they can pick up a lot of straight-line speed. "I think it will get resolved before the first race," he added. "We've asked the FIA for clarification although I think Ferrari are probably more excited than we are to be honest." Funny though that McLaren said they spoke to Ferrari and Ferrari didn't know about it. "We're very confident that our car is entirely legal - and we're not aware of any protest. In fact, we've spoken to Ferrari t...

I like Vettel. He's a good driver as he has demonstrated last year and this year. Plus he's a genuinely humble and nice fella. The problem is, the dog eat dog world of F1 will eat him up and spit him out if he's not careful. Just like at Melbourne, he didn't need to apologize because it was not 100% his fault. Kubica didn't bother to apologise. Still I hope he will go on to win more races and become world champion one day. Monday 20th April 2009 Christian Horner reckons Sebastian Vettel is a World Champion in the making after the German claimed Red Bull's debut win in Sunday's Chinese GP. Vettel, already dubbed 'Schumi 2' by the German media, put in a stellar performance at the Shanghai circuit this past weekend, claiming pole position despite very little running on Saturday and then following that up with the win on Sunday. It was the 21-year-old's second grand prix victory, afte...