How it began

The Milton Keynes team traces its history back to Stewart Grand Prix, the outfit that former racing driver Jackie Stewart founded with his son in 1996; it first raced in 1997. Its biggest result under that name was Johnny Herbert’s win at the European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring on 26 September 1999. Ford bought the team in 1999, and from the 2000 season it raced as Jaguar Racing; in 2004 Ford decided to leave the championship and put the team up for sale.

The buyer was Red Bull. The team made its debut as Red Bull Racing at the Australian Grand Prix on 6 March 2005: David Coulthard finished fourth and Christian Klien seventh. Christian Horner was team principal from the very first season, and in 2006 Adrian Newey became technical director. From 2007 the cars used Renault engines.

First wins and four doubles

Sebastian Vettel brought the first pole and the first win at the Chinese Grand Prix: on 18 April 2009 he topped qualifying, and on 19 April he won the wet race, with Mark Webber second. In all, the team won six Grands Prix in 2009.

The team won its first Constructors’ Championship with a Vettel–Webber one-two at the Brazilian Grand Prix on 7 November 2010, and a week later, on 14 November 2010 in Abu Dhabi, Vettel won the last race of the season to become the youngest world champion, at 23 years and 134 days. The double followed in each of the next three years: Vettel was champion in 2011, 2012 and 2013, and the team won the Constructors’ Championship each time. In 2013 it won thirteen of the nineteen races, including the last nine in a row.

The hybrid era

The team’s first win of the hybrid power unit era, which began in 2014, came from Daniel Ricciardo at the Canadian Grand Prix on 8 June 2014 — also his first World Championship win; later that season he won in Hungary and Belgium too.

On 5 May 2016 the team announced that from the Spanish Grand Prix 18-year-old Max Verstappen would move up from Toro Rosso to replace Daniil Kvyat. On 15 May 2016 Verstappen won that race, his first for Red Bull. In 2019 the team switched to Honda engines (the deal was announced on 19 June 2018); Verstappen brought the first win with them at the Austrian Grand Prix on 30 June 2019.

Honda announced it would leave after the 2021 season, and the team set up its own engine division, Red Bull Powertrains: on 15 February 2021 it was announced that the division would take over Honda’s technology, and on 2 August 2022 Honda agreed to support those power units until the end of 2025.

The Verstappen era

On 18 December 2020 the team signed Sergio Pérez for the 2021 season. On 12 December 2021 Verstappen won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the last race of the season, and became world champion, settling his fight with Lewis Hamilton in that final race.

In 2022 the team won seventeen of the twenty-two races. Verstappen defended his title, and the Constructors’ Championship — the first since 2013 — was sealed with a win at the United States Grand Prix in Austin on 23 October 2022. The 2023 season was the most successful in the team’s history: the only race of the year it did not win was the Singapore Grand Prix on 17 September 2023. Verstappen’s win in Canada on 18 June 2023 was the team’s 100th, the sixth Constructors’ Championship was sealed in Japan on 24 September 2023, and at the end of the year Verstappen and Pérez finished first and second in the Drivers’ Championship, a first for the team.

In Las Vegas on 23 November 2024 Verstappen finished fifth and wrapped up his fourth title in a row with races to spare; the team finished the season third in the Constructors’ Championship. In 2025 Verstappen won eight races, from Japan on 6 April to Abu Dhabi on 7 December, and lost the title to Lando Norris by two points, while the team was third again.

People and changes

On 1 May 2024 the team confirmed Adrian Newey’s departure; he started work at Aston Martin on 3 March 2025. On 9 July 2025 Christian Horner was released from his duties after more than twenty years at the head of the team; Laurent Mekies, who had previously run Racing Bulls, became team principal and CEO. On 9 December 2025 it was announced that motorsport adviser Helmut Marko would leave Red Bull at the end of the year, after more than two decades in the role. On 17 April 2026 Ben Waterhouse was appointed chief engineer for performance and design, reporting to technical director Pierre Waché.

After Pérez left, the second seat changed hands quickly: on 19 December 2024 Liam Lawson was confirmed for the 2025 season, but after two races, on 27 March 2025, he was replaced by Yuki Tsunoda from the Japanese Grand Prix onwards. On 2 December 2025 Isack Hadjar was confirmed for 2026, and Tsunoda became the reserve driver.

2026 season

In 2026 the team races with its own power unit for the first time: the Red Bull Ford, built by Red Bull Powertrains in Milton Keynes together with Ford. The partnership was announced on 3 February 2023 and runs until at least 2030. The regulations are new: about half of the power comes from the electrical side, and active aerodynamics have replaced DRS. The drivers are Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar.

The season opened with the Australian Grand Prix on 8 March 2026: Verstappen started twentieth, finished sixth and set the fastest lap, while Hadjar retired. The first podium of the year was Verstappen’s third place at the Canadian Grand Prix on 24 May 2026; in Monaco on 7 June 2026 Hadjar finished third. Verstappen took second places in Austria on 28 June, in Hungary on 26 July and at the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid on 13 September 2026.

On 20 August 2026 the team announced that Verstappen’s contract had been extended to the end of 2030. During the summer break Hadjar injured his wrist in training, and from the Dutch Grand Prix on 23 August 2026 Liam Lawson stood in for him: seventh at Zandvoort, fourteenth at Monza on 6 September and sixth in Madrid on 13 September 2026.