Red Bull Chinese GP - Shanghai Friday report

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: xpb.cc

Car 1, Sebastian Vettel
“It is tight between the cars. I haven’t seen everything, but I think overall we can be quite happy. We tried a lot of things today and now we need to go through everything and see what the best set-up is. If you look at the car, you can see a big difference compared to the set-up we used for Malaysia, but driving it’s hard to say, as I don’t have a comparison to this track. It’s cooler here than at the last two races; I felt more comfortable, but we’ll see. It’s tricky to say if we look competitive. McLaren look good in all conditions.”

Car 2, Mark Webber
“The sessions were mixed in terms of weather, but we were able to get some good information. We managed to run slick tyres this morning between showers and this afternoon we did a few long and short runs, so we’re learning a lot quickly, which is important on a Friday. We’ve got a lot of stuff to go through tonight and will continue to find out more tomorrow and on Sunday. We’ve come from a track that’s 50˚C to a cooler circuit, so we have more grip here which helps, but I think overall that we’re moving in the right direction.”

SEBASTIAN VETTEL
First Practice Session
Position: 7, Best Time: 1:39.198, Laps: 12
Second Practice Session
Position: 3, Best Time: 1:36.160, Laps: 27

MARK WEBBER
First Practice Session
Position: 6, Best Time: 1:38.977, Laps: 15
Second Practice Session
Position: 4, Best Time 1:36.433, Laps: 24

RED BULL RACING REVEALED…
Racing in Formula One is a team effort and the RB8 bears the signature of every department of Red Bull Racing, from reception to race track. But just how does each section of the factory contribute?

THIS RACE: THE GEAR BOX SHOP
People think that: we build eight gearboxes¸ then take the rest of the year off. What they actually do: is maintain eight gearboxes to cover an entire race and test season. Race gearboxes need to complete five grands prix, while Friday units are required to cover 2000kms. We also maintain and rebuild three test and development gearboxes to cover daily dyno running in the factory and at Renault’s Viry plant. We also maintain all the starters used to fire the cars up and the clutches that get them off the grid.

Interestingly, John West of our gearbox department has a run of motorsport success that may be unique: he was part of the team which won the 1980/81 Paris-Dakar Rally with René Metge, he was then with Prodrive’s Gearbox Shop in 1995 when Colin McRae won the World Rally Championship, the Williams Motorsport Sub-Assembly & Gearbox Shop when they helped BMW to win Le Mans in 1999 and of course the Formula One World Championship with Red Bull Racing in 2010 and 2011. That’s a pretty decent run!