The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual celebration of motorsport held in a beautiful country estate in Sussex and Red Bull had plenty to celebrate with the weekend's huge crowd.
Fresh from victory in Valencia at the European Grand Prix and a traffic-stopping pitstop in the centre of London, the Red Bull Racing team brought two cars to show off to the huge crowd of motor racing fans.
On Saturday, Mark Webber took the show car on the hill-climbing course, closely followed by Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey in last year’s race-winning RB5.
Asked what it was like seeing the great car designer at the wheel of one of his cars, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner joked: “I think it’s more nerve wracking here for me than it is at a Grand Prix. But he’s driven it very well actually, and I think he’s enjoyed it.
“It’s a great day. It’s always a fun event Goodwood.”
Mark Webber, who spent much of the day signing autographs and chatting to fans, received a huge cheer as he took to the track. “I’ve been to Goodwood a few times with lots of different teams, Red Bull; Williams; Jaguar. It’s a great event: the fans are really well educated about the sport and it‘s great to see the different generations.”
“And it’s even better to be back at Goodwood as a Formula One race winner. We’ve achieved a few cool things since the last Goodwood, particularly some key race wins like Monaco.”
Getty Images/Red Bull Photofiles
Of course, while German eyes were on their World Cup tie with Argentina, at the back of Mark’s mind was the one-day cricket match between England and Australia. In the end, despite Stuart Broad taking four wickets, including skipper Ricky Ponting, Mike Hussey scored the crucial runs that handed the Aussie’s the win.
“We needed a win today," Webber said. "I saw Hussey and the boys the other night so I told them to get stuck into the Poms and I think they were pretty fired up to come back. We’re a little bit undercooked as a unit but I’m sure we’ll be back when it counts. I’m going to the Adelaide test in the Ashes in December.”
Although absent, Sebastian Vettel had not only Germany’s World Cup victory to celebrate, but also his birthday. “Have a great day, Seb,” said his team-mate, before adding in classic Aussie style: “23? He’s getting old pretty fast!”
“Very happy birthday to Sebastian,” added Christian Horner. “I just hope he’s having a quiet day in Switzerland or Germany before the excitement of next weekend.”
Meanwhile reigning Red Bull Air Race champion Paul Bonhomme was still buzzing from being presented with the Segrave Trophy at the Royal Automobile Club for the “most outstanding achievement in transport by land, sea or air." Previous winners include Sir Stirling Moss, Sir Jackie Stewart, Allan McNish and Lewis Hamilton who were all also on the Goodwood guestlist.
“I was totally honoured by it," Bonhomme revealed. "We had a brilliant day in London. We had the plane in the Royal Automobile Club’s hallway in the club house in Pall Mall, which I reckon is the most expensive hangarage on the planet.
“Getting it in wasn’t easy: we had to take the wings off and push it in sideways.“
Bonhomme is indulging his passion for flying vintage aircraft by performing an aerobatic display in a Mustang.
Back on track, Sir Jackie took to the hillclimb course in the Lotus 38 of his great friend Jim Clark. Ever the F1 history fan, reigning Formula One World Champion Jenson Button took to the hill-climbing course in the McLaren MP4-2C that Alain Prost drove to his second world crown in 1986.
Bruno Senna took the wheel of his uncle Ayrton Senna’s last McLaren. Ferrari and Mercedes/Braun were represented by Marc Gené and Nico Rosberg. Nico’s dad’s championship-winning Williams was driven by Karun Chandhok.
On two wheels, the Red Bull X-Fighters display team and 12-time World Trials champion Dougie Lampkin thrilled the crowd, while road racers Leon Camier, Leon Haslam, James Toseland, Tom Sykes, Jonathan Rea and Eugene Laverty were present and correct.
The fun continues on Sunday as the UK warms up for next weekend’s British Grand Prix.
Getty Images/Red Bull Photofiles
.jpg "Mark Webber meets fans in Perth")
Comments
Add a comment