This weekend's United States Grand Prix in Austin was a very good one for the Infiniti Red Bull Team. Sebastian Vettel scored another decisive win, Mark Webber finished third, they got to meet Matt Hardigree, and now it turns out they did the fastest pit stop of all time.
When Webber pulled into the pits during Sunday's race, his crew performed a full stop in 1.923 seconds. That blows away their old record of 2.05 seconds set at last April's Malaysian Grand Prix, and it's way ahead of the 2012 record of 2.31 seconds set by McLaren in 2012, CNN reports. It's the first sub-two second pit stop in a race ever.
Since they don't refuel anymore, an F1 pit stop involves the changing of all four tires at once. Red Bull's team manager Jonathan Wheatley said that while the record is incredible, it's not what they're going for out there.
RB: Do you set out to break records or is that counter-productive?
JW: What we’re looking for is consistency. I think a record stop just happens on the right day. If the 20-odd people involved in the pitstop are all having a perfect day, then it happens.
RB: What factors came together to allow you to break the record at the start of the season?
JW: It just came together: the guys were very confident going into the race; we had a good talk Saturday night about our targets; the crew were in good shape, and everyone just felt really positive about what they could achieve. We’ve done similar times since and it’s the same story: everyone felt good on the day.
Even if you're not a fan of Red Bull or Sebastian Vettel, it's awfully hard not to have the utmost respect for this team. Right now, they're the best at what they do.
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