Off-track, the Paddock’s newest residents adopted the hip and youthful promotional presence for which it became synonymous. When the series came back to Europe that presence manifested itself in the Energy Station, Red Bull’s three-storey base of operations, complete with haute cuisine from Michelin-starred chefs, guest DJs on the decks and world class table football. Today the mega-motorhomes are a familiar sight behind the garages; in 2005 it looked like a spaceship had dropped into the Paddock.

A change to Ferrari engines for 2006 saw the RB2 take Red Bull Racing to its first podium finish, thanks to a faultless drive from David Coulthard on his adopted home turf around the streets of Monte Carlo. Off-track Red Bull’s technical team was growing, engineers and designers with championship pedigree were recruited, among them Adrian Newey. The new chief technical officer had a reputation for innovation and six Constructors’ Championship titles to back it up.ensuring the team’s first victory was crowned with a 1-2 finish. On the surface it seemed like the perfect weekend; the reality was somewhat more fraught for the unsung mechanics and engineers who, after a month on the far side of the world, had to put in a monumental collective effort to get the cars on track for qualifying.