Can Red Bull Do It Again?

Adrian Newey: "I think last year we were able to be contenders for the championship. But this year we were fortunate to deliver it. Next year though it could all change. That is the thing about motor racing. There is no guarantee year-to-year. Teams, as we keep seeing, can come up and can come down."

When asked what the chances are of Red Bull Racing's Formula One team has what it takes to win the Constructors title back to back, Andian Newey kept it honest.  But when you ask anyone of Red Bull's fans you will receive a different answer.  That their dominance in the sport has just begun.  Launched in 2005, Red Bull's first year in Formula One was a massive success compared to their predecessors, Jaguar Racing. They were 6th in the Constructors Championship for most of the season. Finishing in 7th overall, Red Bull was a consistent points and occasional podium challenger for most of their debut season.

From the debut season, things have only gotten better. The 7th place finish was topped nearly year after year until 2010 when Red Bull Racing walked away with both the constructor's and driver's title.

When Team Principal, Christian Horner was asked about the possibility of a back to back win he was quotes,

“I think it’s very difficult to top this year. The car was obviously very, very quick – it’s been developed tremendously well. Operationally, from the production side, from the R&D side and trackside, I think we’ve had the best pit-stops in F1 this year, I think our strategies have been creative and quite often, we’ve come up with very good strategies on a Sunday – you’ve only got to think about Mark in Budapest or Sebastian at Monza or Mark in Singapore, where there has been some really good work on the pit wall this year.

“You’re always striving to improve, though, always striving to do better and you can learn from every race that you compete in. There are a lot of really valuable lessons that we’ve learned this year, just as there are a lot of things that we’ve done fantastically well – and we’ll be looking to build on all of that in 2011.”

Looking over the statistics of the first 6 years of the Red Bull Racing's history, the only way the team progresses is by achieving more and more, by getting better and more consistent.  Both Horner and Newey may just be playing down their possibility of the back to back wins or maybe they are just superstitious men.  Not willing to tempt fate by expressing the idea themselves, nor will I. 

I don't think the idea of  'touch wood' could be enough.  I will just keep my fingers crossed.

So Red Bull Racing, break a leg.