Insolite: Red Bull performs a pit-stop… in total darkness
To continue to be extremely fast at pit-stops in 2024, Red Bull has carried out pit-stops at its factory in total darkness.
« “We can make another pit stop for practice if you want,” Max Verstappen ironically threw at his race engineer during this year’s Belgian Grand Prix. Well, Red Bull listened to their three-time champion driver and took advantage of the offseason to make a pit stop, in complete darkness.
The Austrian team held the record for the fastest pit stop in the history of F1, in 1.82 seconds, during the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, on Max Verstappen’s car. This year, McLaren was even faster in Qatar, during the 27th lap of the race, on Lando Norris’s car, in 1.80 seconds.
22 members of the team were in the great darkness of their Milton Keynes factory, they were also wearing extremely dark visors. In about ten attempts, they went from a pit stop time of 8.84 to 2.84 seconds.
« The ability to see the car, the teammates is essential »
If this exercise of changing the four tires in total darkness can make you smile with its comic aspect, Jonathan Wheatley, the sports director of Red Bull, saw it as a good way to maintain the mechanics’ reflexes.
The sense of sight, the ability to see the car, the teammates, and what you are doing is essential for a successful pit stop, and the fact that it is no longer possible has posed great challenges for us, explains Jonathan Wheatley.
However, it quickly became evident how seamless the approach, communication, skills, and teamwork were, to the point that the task at hand became almost second nature. I was truly proud of their performance, rejoiced the sports director of Red Bull.
