Can Red Bull take flight?

'Gives you wings'. Whether those words inscribed on the rear wing has had any effect is a matter of conjecture, but Red Bull Racing (RBR) sure had the energy in its first season in Formula One.
After Ford put Jaguar on sale at the end of 2004, it was bought over by the Austrian energy drinks company Red Bull. Rebranded as Red Bull Racing, it pulled of a coup in signing a driver of the calibre of veteran David Coulthard and the talented Christian Klien, and later Tonio Liuzzi.
Coulthard, for long the eternal bridesmaid at McLaren-Mercedes, had had enough and moved on in a bid to resurrect his career.
The team had to make do with the same car because of lack of preparation time. As a result, expectations were low. But to their surprise, the Milton Keynes-based team had more points in the first two races of the its first season in 2005 than Jaguar had the entire previous season. And it scored points in seven of the first eight races. The team scored in another five races and finished seventh in the constructor standings.
The next year, RBR pulled off another big coup in Formula One when it managed to lure ace designer Adrian Newey from McLaren-Mercedes. David Coulthard was instrumental in the move.
But after a decent debut year, RBR saw the other end of the spectrum. Though they had a good start by logging points in a couple of races, the team had to endure a series of retirements. Amidst all this, Coulthard brought smiles to the camp with a third place in his backyard - the Monaco Grand Prix. The relief could be sensed from the fact that the Scot stood on the podium wearing a Superman cape. It sure was a Superman effort for a team which was still struggling to find its wheels. But, then, again the team spiralled down. They halted development work on the car and instead decided to train their focus on the 2007 car. The team finished seventh in the standings that season.
With new driver Australian Mark Webber set to partner Coulthard, a car which had Newey's full attention and powered by Renault, RBR hoped for a better season. But it didn't turn out that way. Reliability issues followed the team like a plague and the RB3 car had nine retirements due to technical and mechanical failures. Also, the drivers too had a wretched time with Coulthard and Webber splitting five crashes between them.
Webber did have a third place finish at the German GP and was running second in Japan when he crashed out. The team finished fifth in the standings, an improvement from the previous two seasons.
Going into this season, the team has retained the same driver line-up. But unless they put a reliable and a quicker car, even Red Bull wouldn't be able to give them wings!