15 Years Later: Why Red Bull’s first F1 win was NOT Red Bull’s first F1 win

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15 Years Later: Why Red Bull’s first F1 win was NOT Red Bull’s first F1 win

The team claimed this as their own...

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Friday 1 September 2023 19:57

As Max Verstappen and his dominant Red Bull team head to the Italian Grand Prix in search of his tenth consecutive race win (a Formula 1 record) we look back to the 2008 Italian GP, when Red Bull claimed their first ever race win as a team. Or did they?

Red Bull Racing debuted in their current form in 2005 with the driver pairing of David Coulthard and Christian Klien, but it wasn't until a year later that they introduced their sister team Toro Rosso onto the grid.

Toro Rosso was (as it still is under the name AlphaTauri) designed to be a feeder for young drivers into the main team, and has produced some brilliant talents including Verstappen, four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz.

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In 2008, Red Bull headed to Monza with the formidable driver pairing of Mark Webber and David Coulthard, but still without a race win, despite being in their fourth season in the sport.

Then, one of their drivers drove a masterful Saturday qualifying in the wet and landed himself on pole. But it wasn't Webber or Coulthard...

Vettel launches his Formula 1 career

Helmut Marko had a big influence on Vettel's young career, as the German went on to win four consecutive world titles

It was Vettel who started in pole position for the Toro Rosso team, and launched himself off the line brilliantly, building up a sizeable lead to the likes of Heikki Kovalainen and Webber, who was in the 'main' Red Bull car.

In a day that F1 commentator James Allen described as 'a day to make you fall in love with Formula 1 all over again', Vettel went on to lead the race from start to finish in changeable conditions.

This sparked real jubilation from the Toro Rosso team and, indeed, Red Bull who were probably a little bit embarrassed that it was their sister team who had achieved the team's first race win.

It also sparked Vettel's career into life, as he was signed to the main Red Bull team for 2009, and started winning races more regularly before going on to win four consecutive drivers' championships with the team between 2010-2013.

Red Bull now, of course, are a team who have won five constructors' titles and 105 race victories, but back then it wasn't all plain sailing.

Toro Rosso actually finished ahead of them in the 2008 constructors' championship, and Vettel finished ahead of both Red Bull drivers in the drivers' championship.

It's up to you whether or not you count this as their first race victory, or the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix, where the main team finally got one under their belt thanks to Vettel again.