Formula 1

Red Bull Foursome On Victory Tour After 2010 Successes

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Since Sebastian Vettel claimed victory in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, the triumphant Red Bull team have been to Salzburg and Milton Keynes to celebrate the two championships – drivers’ and constructors’ – that they have won this season.

Christian Horner, Adrian Newey, Vettel, and team-mate Mark Webber went to ‘Hangar-7’ in Salzburg, the company headquarters, on Monday. The four were greeted by a traditional Austrian band, and a standing ovation. They then took part in a programme called ‘Sport und Talk’ alongside David Coulthard, Niki Lauda and Gehard Berger, before attending a celebration with over a thousand guests.

On Tuesday morning, in a press conference to the worlds’ media, the four protagonists talked about their season which, for the Red Bull team, included nine race wins, four one-two finishes, an impressive fifteen pole positions and, of course, the two championships.

“The past couple of months have been a unique experience for me and I have experienced great moments, which I will never forget, but there were also some difficult situations,” said winner of the 2010 drivers’ championship, Sebastian Vettel. “I am very proud of what we have achieved – it's a great moment for me and the whole team. I'm looking forward to some relaxing moments now, in order to realise what's just happened.

It is of course now the time to enjoy the success, but we will soon be facing new challenges and the aim for next year is to defend both titles. There is lots to do, but I'm convinced that we will once again be among the best teams competing.

“I am very happy with this team – we're like a big family, everyone has fun and is dedicated towhat they are doing; only when it's like this is it possible to achieve at such a high level. Without the support I received from the Red Bull Junior Programme, I would not be sitting here today as a World Champion.”

As the team flew into Abu Dhabi about a week ago, Mark Webber was better-placed to take the title but was beaten to it by his team-mate. The Aussie sounded very magnanimous in defeat, congratulating Vettel and his team. “The Constructors' Championship was very important for Red Bull – and shows that this season has bound the team together; we can all be very proud of what we have achieved,” he said.

“I just missed my personal target this season, but there were many highlights and the next season starts soon. It's not always been easy for either of us (Seb or me) during the year, but this is normal when you're competing against each other at this level. We both wanted to become World Champion and therefore we pushed the whole team to perfection.

“At the end of the season, we are honestly able to show respect for each other's performance, which is very important. Congratulations to Sebastian, he really deserves the title.”

Horner was keen to congratulate both his drivers’ and is targeting more of the same in 2011. “I have to congratulate both drivers, as well as the whole team,” said the Red Bull team principal. “We have overcome all the problems we experienced and pushed each other to the limit. We were able to keep top teams such as Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes in check and will work hard on keeping it that way in the future. This is the next big challenge for the whole team.

“It's been an outstanding season for Red Bull Racing. We have met our two big targets after only six seasons and we will enjoy this success for a couple of days before we start to build on this result and get ready for new challenges in 2011.”

Adrian Newey also had the defence of the titles on his mind: “After six years of hard work in Milton Keynes we have reached the target. The package was excellent: the drivers, team and cars worked well as a unit. For 2011 we need to further perfect this, in order to defend these Championships.”

After this press conference the four important team personnel headed to Milton Keynes, to share in this seasons’ success with the entire team.

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David is an occasional contributer to the site on matters related to Formula 1. You can follow him on twitter at @Dr_Bean.
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