Red Bull, a five-stop strategy

Red Bull never misses an opportunity to bounce back from the news to express its difference in the paddock. F1. This Thursday, Christian Horner, team manager of the Milton Keynes, recounts his return to Britain from China. The cloud of volcanic ash that hovered over Europe, and which paralyzed air traffic for several days, made this return trip a little longer than expected.

« It was a five-stop strategy, says Horner. Mark (Webber) and I had a flight Monday at 7:15 a.m. from Shanghai to Dubai. Then we went from Dubai to Rome, where we landed at 20:30 p.m. local time. We took another plane, from Rome to Nice, where we spent the night, then took an early Tuesday morning flight to Glasgow. I think we were one of the first planes to enter British airspace. We landed in Glasgow at 12:05pm on Tuesday, realizing at that point that Mark had forgotten his passport! After enjoying the local hospitality, we traveled from Glasgow to Oxfordshire by helicopter, arriving at 16 p.m. »

If Mark Webber and Christian Horner arrived on Tuesday in the British Isles, the rest of the team should arrive this Thursday, as well as the cars and equipment. For his part, Sebastian Vettel Didn't encounter too many problems. “ He got lucky, says Horner. He managed to get on a flight with Bernie Ecclestone, who I believe was going to Istanbul. Sebastian then took another plane, to Nice, then returned by car. He arrived before us on Tuesday morning. »

Despite the aerial adventures of recent days, Christian Horner believes that the dozens of hours behind schedule will have little impact on the preparation of the next Grand Prix. “ Fortunately, the calendar favors us with one more week between the Chinese Grand Prix and that of Spain. The impact will therefore be very limited. There is more than a week left to bring the cars and the new products for the next race are manufactured here, at the factory. The factory has not been affected and, thanks to the extra week, we are confident that there will be no major problems. »