What makes Red Bull great? Former engineer explains role played by Christian Horner and Adrian Newey in team's success

Former Red Bull engineer Dan Fallows reckons years of clear direction and focus from team boss Christian Horner has helped the team become dominant.

The Austrian team became world champions for the first time in 2010 after just five years in the sport. They went on a four-year dominant run before the introduction of the turbo-hybrid V6 engines.

While Red Bull struggled with a broken relationship with Renault and eventually went with Honda, Mercedes dominated for seven years. Since 2021, though, the Red Bull-Honda partnership put all the pieces together and has dominated the sport in the last two seasons.

Being a part of the team through these years before moving to Aston Martin, Fallows told the Beyond the Grid podcast about the secret of Red Bull's success:

"I think what makes Red Bull greatest is that they've spent a long time with a very clear direction. Ever since Christian (Horner) took over the team and then Adrian (Newey) joined shortly afterwards, one of the things that Adrian brought to the team was a very clear direction in terms of what they want to achieve. Dietrich Mateschitz obviously put a huge amount of money into it and was very passionate about F1 and what he wanted to do with the team."

He added:

"But really all he could do was use Helmut Marko to make sure that the teams they had were working in the right way and that they had the drivers coming through what is now AlphaTauri. It was a question of giving money and freedom to the people who could then go about building a team like that."

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Adrian Newey's arrival has boosted Red Bull project - Dan Fallows

Speaking about the significance of having chief technology officer Adrian Newey, Fallows said that the former McLaren employee's arrival has driven the project forward.

The focus has been on getting things in order and bringing impressive talents on board to improve the overall operation. Fallows said:

"It's been a project ever since Adrian joined, and it's followed in his mold and his ideas ever since the outset. They've had the advantage of a very big budget, very clear vision, being able to track some incredibly good people both as graduates but also from other teams throughout the years.

"We produced a really functional, well-communicating team of really highly motivated and talented engineers with a tool set, which is the envy of the grid."

The Austrian team have dominated in 2023 as well, winning all three races, so it's difficult to see them relenting any time soon.