– In the 1970s, Chaleo Yoovidhya’s pharmaceutical company develops a drink for Thai workers called Krating Daeng
– In 1982, marketing executive Dietrich Mateschitz goes on a business trip to meet Yoovidhya. While in Hong Kong, he finds that Krating Daeng helps ease his jet lag. He sees the potential for the sale of the drink in Europe, and starts negotiating with Yoovidhya to set up a new business
– In 1984, Mateschitz and Yoovidhya each invest $500k for a 49% stake in Red Bull GmbH, a new company that will introduce a modified version of Krating Daeng to Europe; the name is a translation of Krating Daeng from Thai to English. The remaining 2% stake goes to Chaleo Yoovidhya’s son Chalerm. Mateschitz is given the responsibility of running the company from Austria. The drink goes on sale in 1987
– At the 1985 Austrian Grand Prix, Mateschitz persuades Arrows driver Gerhard Berger to become the first Formula One driver sponsored by Red Bull. In 1989, Berger, now driving for Ferrari, officially becomes the first Red Bull athlete. He goes on to have a long and successful career in the sport, winning ten races until retiring in 1997, and this raises significant awareness of Red Bull within F1
– The popularity of Red Bull explodes during the 1990s thanks to creative marketing and sponsorship. In 1995, they become title sponsors and majority owners of Sauber, at the time the works F1 team of Ford
– In 1996, it’s announced that Sauber will lose the support of Ford, who instead complete a deal to invest in a new team being set up by Jackie and Paul Stewart for the 1997 season. The team is based around successful junior team Paul Stewart Racing, but with a new factory in Milton Keynes. Sauber switch to customer Ferrari engines
– In 1997, British junior formula also-ran and former Team Lotus F1 test driver Christian Horner steps up to Formula 3000 with his own team, Arden, funded by a series of loans. One of the pieces of equipment he uses to set up his team is a second-hand trailer bought from leading F3000 team RSM Marko, owned and run by former F1 driver Helmut Marko
– Arden isn’t particularly successful at first, but through family connections, Horner earns the support of Prodrive, who buy half the team, allow it to race from their factory in Banbury, and connect it with Russian oil company Lukoil, who fund the team in exchange for the presence of Russian driver Viktor Maslov. After this, results begin to improve
– In its third season of F1, Stewart experience their breakthrough year, winning the 1999 European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring and finishing fourth in the constructors’ championship. Ford take the opportunity to buy the team outright from the Stewart family, rebranding it Jaguar Racing from 2000
– In 1999, after a year on the sidelines, RSM Marko return to F3000 as the Red Bull Junior Team, forging one of the first major visible connections between Marko and Mateschitz. Over the next few years, they run Red Bull-backed drivers in F3000, including Brazilian Enrique Bernoldi
– In 2001, Red Bull push Sauber to sign Bernoldi as one of their drivers, but Peter Sauber instead chooses to sign Formula Renault UK champion Kimi Raikkonen. This leads to a breakdown in relations between Sauber and Mateschitz. Red Bull sell their majority stake in Sauber to Credit Suisse, and Mateschitz instead does a deal with Arrows to sponsor the team in exchange for them taking on Bernoldi
– The Red Bull/Arrows deal continues into 2002, but it becomes apparent that Arrows is on the brink of collapse. Mateschitz bids to buy the team outright to create a Red Bull F1 team, but the deal falls through and Arrows collapses mid-season
– In a bid to bring a young American driver to F1, Red Bull launch their Driver Search in 2002, headed by former F1 and IndyCar star Danny Sullivan. One of the first winners is young Californian Scott Speed, who enjoys success in Formula Renault and GP2
– At the same time, Arden win the F3000 teams’ championship for the first time, thanks largely to the efforts of Czech driver Tomas Enge. However, Enge tests positive for cannabis after winning the Hungaroring round and is disqualified, costing him the drivers’ title and handing it to Sebastien Bourdais
– In 2003, Arden win both titles with Bjorn Wirdheim taking their first drivers’ title. Following this season, RSM Marko withdraw from F3000 and Red Bull transfer their backing to Arden, including the services of driver Vitantonio Liuzzi, who goes on to dominate the 2004 season
– For the 2004 season, Red Bull junior driver Christian Klien joins Jaguar Racing, who had struggled since Ford’s takeover in 2000. Ford are scaling back investment in the team and questions are raised about their future in the sport
– During 2004, Horner enters negotiations to buy the struggling Jordan team as a way of bringing Arden into F1. However, the deal falls through due to lack of funding, and the team is instead bought by Russian-Canadian businessman Alex Shnaider of the Midland Group
– Towards the end of the year, Ford announces it is withdrawing from F1 and selling their team. Mateschitz swoops in, leading Red Bull into a deal to buy the team for a nominal $1, rebranding it as Red Bull Racing. They immediately hire experienced driver David Coulthard to lead the team, while Klien and Liuzzi are to share the second car to give both drivers a share of the experience
– 8 weeks before the start of the 2005 season, on the recommendation of Marko, Red Bull appoint Horner as team principal. At 31, he is by far the youngest team boss in the sport
– During 2005, Red Bull achieve good results, but make bigger waves with their relaxed approach to communications and marketing, including the launch of the Energy Station, the publication of the Red Bulletin magazine, and a notable rebranding of their car at the Monaco Grand Prix to promote Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
– Towards the end of the year, Red Bull shock F1 by joining forces with Berger to buy the struggling Minardi team, giving them two teams on the grid from 2006. They intend to use Scuderia Toro Rosso as a way of developing junior drivers – beginning with Liuzzi and Speed – and will share technology with Red Bull Racing, beginning with a year-old car. Austrian Franz Tost is appointed as team boss. Speed’s promotion is deemed to be thanks to the success of the American Driver Search, which is wound up having achieved its goal
– In November, Red Bull announce the signing of McLaren technical director Adrian Newey as their new Chief Technical Officer. The link with Coulthard, who had worked with Newey at McLaren and Williams, is cited as a key factor. Newey will design cars for Red Bull Technology, with tech being shared between both Red Bull teams
– In 2006, following a season with Ferrari engines, it’s announced that Red Bull had signed a deal with Renault for customer engines from 2007. They also announce the signing of former Jaguar driver Mark Webber, who is managed by Renault team boss Flavio Briatore
– At the 2007 European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, Speed comes to blows with Tost and is fired. He is replaced at Toro Rosso by Red Bull junior Sebastian Vettel, who is brought over from BMW Sauber, where he had been the team’s third driver and had debuted at the US Grand Prix a few weeks prior. Liuzzi is also later dropped, being replaced by Bourdais, now a star in Champ Car. Bourdais would be the last driver with no prior Red Bull backing to drive for the Faenza team until 2023
– In 2008, a Red Bull car wins a race for the first time, with Vettel winning the Italian Grand Prix for Toro Rosso. By this time, Vettel is already confirmed as a Red Bull Racing driver for 2009 in place of the retiring Coulthard. At the end of the year, Berger sells his 50% stake in Toro Rosso to Red Bull, giving them complete control of the team
– Vettel goes on to take Red Bull Racing’s first pole and win in the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix, a decade after the team’s only win as Stewart. Vettel and Webber win a total of 6 races in the team’s breakthrough year, losing out to Brawn GP in both championships
– In 2010, Vettel and Red Bull Racing win their first championships, despite an acrimonious season in which Vettel and Webber clash at Istanbul Park, revealing tension and division within the team, particularly when Marko publicly supports Vettel in the incident. Horner remains neutral and diffuses the situation by arranging for both drivers to visit sick children at Great Ormond Street Hospital, but the relationship between the drivers remains fractious until Webber retires from F1 at the end of 2013
– Vettel and Red Bull Racing go on to win the next three championships in a dominant four-year spell as the team becomes F1’s powerhouse. This includes a nine-race winning streak at the end of 2013
– In 2011, Red Bull begin a new sponsorship deal with shoe manufacturer Geox. It is later alleged that Horner was on the verge of being dismissed over unethical behaviour during the process of making the deal, but that Marko stepped in to ensure Horner kept his job
– In March 2012, Chaleo Yoovidhya dies at the age of 88. His son Chalerm inherits his 49% stake in the company, giving him a 51% majority shareholding in the company. For now, nothing changes as Mateschitz continues to run the company
– In 2014, Red Bull Racing’s engine partner Renault’s new hybrid engine is a dud, leaving them out of contention for the championship for the first time in six years. They win just three races thanks to Webber’s replacement Daniel Ricciardo. The title is instead taken by Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes, who had bought out Brawn GP after their success in 2009. Mercedes’ success is put down to following a similar model to Red Bull, where team boss Toto Wolff is entrusted by the executives to run the team with minimal interference from corporate level
– While this is going on, Red Bull’s junior programme, still led by Marko, is in a fierce tussle with Mercedes over the backing of 16-year-old Formula 3 driver Max Verstappen. Mercedes look to be in prime position to sign him until Marko offers Verstappen an F1 seat at Toro Rosso for 2015. This swings the deal in Red Bull’s favour, and Verstappen is announced as a Red Bull junior in August 2014
– Towards the end of 2014, Vettel makes the shock decision to leave Red Bull to join Ferrari. He is replaced by Russian Red Bull junior Daniil Kvyat, who in turn is replaced by Verstappen, who will become the youngest F1 driver in history
– Red Bull fail to win any races in 2015, but Verstappen’s impressive performances catch the eye, while Kvyat struggles to match Ricciardo. Their relationship with Renault deteriorates, leading to their engines being rebranded by sponsor TAG Heuer from 2016
– In early 2016, pressure mounts within Red Bull from Marko to promote Verstappen to their senior team. Horner attempts to block this, but he is overruled and Verstappen and Kvyat switch teams from the Spanish Grand Prix. Verstappen wins the race, becoming the youngest F1 race winner in history
– Red Bull struggle to compete with Mercedes over the next couple of years. In 2017, it is announced that Toro Rosso will be powered by Honda engines in 2018, and a year later it is confirmed that Red Bull will also work with Honda from 2019. Results begin to improve during 2020
– Midway through 2018, Ricciardo makes the surprise announcement that he will leave Red Bull for Renault at the end of the year. This is the first of a series of moves in the team’s second car alongside Verstappen as team mates struggle to extract the same level of performance out of the car
– Red Bull rename Toro Rosso as Scuderia AlphaTauri in 2020 after Red Bull’s fashion brand. At the Italian Grand Prix at Monza that year, Pierre Gasly takes a surprise win, 12 years after Vettel’s win there. At the Tuscan Grand Prix at Mugello a week later, Horner publicly states that AlphaTauri is “now a sister team rather than a junior team”. At the end of the season, Red Bull Racing sign the experienced Sergio Perez, their first external hire since 2008. The move effectively rejects Red Bull’s junior drivers from the top team and creates a backlog underneath AlphaTauri
– In October 2020, Honda announce they are withdrawing from F1 at the end of the 2021 season. It is later announced that Red Bull will buy the rights to Honda’s engine and develop it in-house via new subdivision, Red Bull Powertrains. Honda continue to sponsor the team and later backtrack, paying for the naming rights to the RBPT engine from 2022 and announcing a deal to join with Aston Martin from 2026
– At the end of 2021, Verstappen takes his first world championship after a controversial season battling with Hamilton and Mercedes. He goes on to win the title again in more dominant fashion in 2022 and 2023, with Red Bull also winning the constructors’ title twice; in 2023, Verstappen breaks Vettel’s record by winning 10 races in a row, as well as 19 races over the full season
– In early 2022, Verstappen signs a lucrative long-term contract keeping him at the time until the end of the 2028 season. However, it’s later reported that this contract has a clause releasing Verstappen from the team if Marko leaves
– Red Bull continue to look for a future manufacturer partner to replace Honda, and during 2022, they move close to a deal with Porsche to sell a 50% stake in Red Bull Advanced Technologies, the parent body of both F1 teams, guaranteeing the future of the F1 programme. However, this falls through, with reports putting it down to Horner having a role in nixing the deal over the fear of a loss of the team’s independence from the manufacturer’s corporate executives. It is around this time, possibly as a result of this, that he is reported to have become closer to Chalerm Yoovidhya
– In October 2022, AlphaTauri announce the signing of Nyck de Vries for the 2023 season. De Vries will be first non-Red Bull junior driver for the Faenza team for 14 years, with Red Bull juniors being overlooked for the seat. The decision was advocated by Marko; it would later be revealed by Marko himself that Horner was “not keen” on signing the Dutchman
– A few weeks later, Dietrich Mateschitz dies aged 78 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. His son Mark inherits his shareholding, but the running of Red Bull GmbH is taken on by three executives. Oliver Mintzlaff, the former head of Red Bull’s football operations, is appointed the CEO of the company’s Corporate Projects and New Investments division, including sporting operations
– Shortly before the start of the 2023 season, Red Bull announce a deal with Ford to sponsor and support the development of their engine programme from the start of new regulations in 2026. It marks Ford’s first return to F1 since selling Jaguar Racing to Red Bull at the end of 2004
– In April 2023, it’s announced that Tost will be stepping down as team boss at AlphaTauri and replaced by former Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies, who had previously been the team’s chief engineer until 2014. Tost implies that he did not choose to leave of his own accord, fuelling speculation about Red Bull internal politics and the future of the Faenza team
– In June, it’s confirmed that AlphaTauri will be more closely aligned to Red Bull Racing, including having a greater presence in Milton Keynes, as well as being renamed: the new identity is later confirmed to be the RB F1 Team. The same month, the struggling De Vries is publicly criticised by Marko for his performances, admitting Horner may have been right in his scepticism about signing the Dutchman. Following the British Grand Prix, De Vries is dropped by the team; he is replaced by Ricciardo, who had returned to Red Bull as a reserve driver at the start of the year five years after leaving
– At some point during 2023, in the middle of an unprecedent run of success for the F1 team with 21 wins from 22 races, Horner enters talks with Chalerm Yoovidhya over splitting Red Bull Advanced Technologies away from Red Bull GmbH. Horner would run the division and have a significant financial stake in it. This would give Horner control over both the Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri teams, and would allow him to remove Marko from the organisation. These talks seemingly happen without the knowledge of the executives running Red Bull GmbH, and the plan falls through when it comes to light internally
– The scheme further deepens the divide internally between Horner and the Austrian faction in the team, led by Marko and with support at executive level. Around this time, Red Bull extend Marko’s contract as head of the junior programme until 2027, further cementing his place in the organisation
– In early 2024, reports surface that Horner is being investigated for inappropriate conduct. Red Bull later announce that the grievance raised against Horner had been dismissed, only for a series of messages apparently from the case to be leaked to the media, rival teams and stakeholders during the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend. In the resulting media frenzy, Verstappen’s father Jos effectively calls for Horner’s departure from the team, and news articles report many of the hidden stories outlined above, exposing the divisions within the team
Histor's Eye 