The Red Bull team joined F1 in 2005 after the energy drink company bought out Jaguar Racing in November 2004. The price was US$1 but with the caveat that the new owner invest US$400million in the team's development over the next three years.
Christian Horner became the youngest team principal in F1 when he came in to lead the team in their opening championship. Under power from Cosworth, they immediately outperformed the Jaguar team, amassing more points in their first two races than Jaguar had scored in the entire previous season.
For 2006 Red Bull managed to attract Adrian Newey to the team as technical director. Formerly with McLaren and Williams, Newey was seen as one of the best technical minds in the sport. They also switched engines to the V8 from Ferrari.
Although the season got off to a slow start, David Coulthard managed to score a point in Australia and followed that later in the season with the team's first podium, third in the Monaco Grand Prix. A scattering of other points finishes by both Coulthard and team mate Christian Klien saw the team finish 7th in the constructors' championship with 16 points.
The 2007 season saw the debut of the first Newey-designed Red Bull car, now powered by a Renault engine. They also signed Australian Mark Webber to compete alongside Coulthard. Although the car seemed competitive it was plagued by reliability issues. The team hired Geoff Willis to work alongside Newey, further increasing their technical department. Mid-season updates helped to some degree, but the best performance that year was in Hungary where Webber finished third and Coulthard fifth.
2008 was a disappointing year for the team, as despite a near identical chassis, the Renault-powered RB4 was regularly beaten by its Ferrari-powered Toro Rosso sibling. Coulthard's third in Canada was the best result the team could manage.
In a world-first, Red Bull launched their 2009 challenger virtually, via a weblink to a 3D video, narrated by driver Sebastian Vettel. Vettel went on to secure the team's first pole position at the Chinese Grand Prix, they went on to compound the team's dominance of the event with Vettel winning and Webber fishing second. The team continued to fight back against the might of Brawn with another one-two finish in Germany, this time it was Webber who took the win, his first in F1 despite a drive-through penalty. They finished the year on a high with three more wins including a one-two finish in the final race in Abu Dhabi - their points tally was more than enough to take second the constructors' championship.
