Red Bull Racing, known for its quirky PR activities, has done it again. The world championship-winning team pulled off an incredible pitstop in total darkness to celebrate winning the DHL Fastest Pitstop Award for six consecutive years.
This prestigious trophy is awarded to the team that achieves the fastest pit stops on average throughout the F1 season, and Red Bull came out on top, beating Ferrari and McLaren in the standings this year.
The pit crew members underwent rigorous training, practicing with blindfolds before being plunged into complete darkness in a dark factory, with their helmet visors blacked out. After 10 attempts, they managed to sharpen their time from 8.84s down to an astonishing 2.84s, faster than some teams achieve over an entire race weekend.
While the tire change crew operated blind, the front and rear jack operators, as well as the driver, wore night vision devices provided by the military.
Jonathan Wheatley, Red Bull’s sporting manager, praised the team’s performance, saying, “The time of 2.84 seconds is a strong stop even in broad daylight. I’m certainly not saying that I would like to turn the lights out in a race, but being able to pull this off so succinctly, in the pitch black, shows what a well-oiled machine the crew is.”
Red Bull Racing also holds the world record for the fastest F1 pit stop during a grand prix, only to be narrowly beaten by McLaren this year in the Qatar Grand Prix, bringing it down to 1.80s.
Red Bull’s dominance is undisputed, as they won all but one grand prix in 2023 with Max Verstappen claiming his third straight world championship. Incredible work from an incredible team.
Read Also:
