(from autosport) Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz is prepared to wait another year to see his team take their first Formula One victory, saying he will be happy to see several podium finishes this season. Red Bull Racing launched their new RB4 at Jerez in Spain yesterday, and the team have high hopes of making a big step forward over last year. But despite a mood of optimism at the team, Mateschitz insists that his victory ambitions are on hold until 2009 as he sees his team taking the challenge to BMW Sauber, Renault and Williams this season. "With all senses for reality I have an excellent feeling for this season," said Mateschitz, who flew into Jerez for the launch of the new car. "The RB3 car was totally new and needed a year of development until we reached its potential. Starting with the 2007 Japanese GP there was significant improvement. "The team really worked hard, sorted out the initial problems. We built the RB4 on that basis. For 2008 I expect us to fight with BMW, Renault, and Williams for third in the constructors' championship." When asked whether he expected a victory this year, he said: "I doubt it can happen in a race under normal circumstances. We target wins for 2009. This season both drivers should achieve two or three podiums each." Although Red Bull Racing are now entering their fourth season in F1, Mateschitz says he is not getting impatient waiting for success. "I do not believe that my patience will be tested this year," he said. "In fact, I never expected that F1 would be easy."
Sadly I think that's correct. Much as I like to see fellow countryman DC doing well he's obviously coming to the end of his career and I don't expect him to be a front runner again. MW is still young enough and has a good deal of talent, but RBR do need to recruit a quality driver quite soon if they are to continue to progress. Hopefully they will have an improved car again this year, which will help them attract a top driving talent.
I still think DC could be a front-runner with the proper equipment, especially this year since he's one of the few drivers with experience driving w/out traction control.
Its certainly possible they will get podiums this year but I don't think it will be through raw pace. Look for the usual story, Webber dragging the car further up the grid than it deserves to be in Qualifying, before dropping back in the race. While DC does the opposite.
As long as they wear capes every time they make the podium I'll be fine with that. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I wouldn't say Webber drifts back through the race. He can just outperform his car over one lap, and thus, cannot outperform it for the entire length of a Grand Prix. What would you be saying if he qualified 13th or so, and finished below the top 10? Webber has shown (in my eyes ofcourse) that he can progress through a race, and hold his own through some treacherous conditions. (Fuji/Euro '07). His performances at Germany and Monaco '06 in that POS Williams also stand out in mind. And hey, If MW was rubbish, why would have Flav paid off all his debts in exchange for part of his future earnings. DC. I think he has one more year left, and then he will go onto an 'advisory' position for RBR. When you have been around for as long as he has, you have very little to prove. Same goes for Rubens.
Oh don't get me wrong its not a criticism of Webber's driving. I think he is one of the top drivers on the grid. As you say he usually outperforms the car but he can't put in that performance every lap. How many times last year did he make final Quali compared to how many times he finished in the points?? The new RB is meant to be very very fast according to Adrian Newey, hopefully they have found some reliability as well.
It's funny to see professional drivers made to whore products in that manner while still trying to be cool. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I'd re-phrase that to "if you've been around as long as these guys have and haven't shown yourself a winner, you have very little chance of ever being a winner". Webber and Coulthard both need to be replaced with fast drivers. Webber has nothing to do with "outperforming" his car (what does that mean anyway?) - he just can't keep pace for a race. Its not that he OVERperforms some laps then performs adequately for the rest, it's that he adequately performs for 1-2 laps then UNDERperforms for the rest. The problem in F1 is that not everyone can be a winner. Lets say RBR moves up the grid into the top few spots. We say "well rightly so! They have a huge budget!". Then lets say Toyota move into the top few spots because we are all sure they SHOULD be there given their budget. Then lets say Honda moves up too because they are rightly a big company who should be up top. Ok... well there's only 10 spots. That means McLaren, Renault, Ferrari are going to be the backmarkers? In F1, you don't just have to perform, you have to OUTperform the other teams who are also trying to outperform each other and you. The bar is constantly being raised, so you not only need to accelerate, you need to increase your rate of acceleration (in terms of how quickly you progress in speed) to out-accelerate the others. I think Toyota gets unfairly bashed for this - Honda and RBR and others too. You're not trying to just beat an opponent set against some metric - you are trying to beat an opponent who is constantly improving their performance as well.
