Red Bull Racing Updates Not Affected by Air Travel Chaos

Red Bull Racing is one team that will not be affected by the cloud of volcanic ash which influenced the air travel in recent days. In an interview with Red Bull's press office, team principal Christian Horner insisted that the 3-week break between the Chinese Grand Prix and the upcoming Spanish race has prevented any shortcuts in his team's developing the updates for the RB6.

Horner argued that the majority of the parts that are to be introduced in Barcelona are being manufactured at the team's base in Milton Keynes, whereas the “turnaround” components that were fitted on the RB6 in China are expected to reach UK soil with only a few days of delay.

“Thankfully, the way the calendar is with the extra week between the Chinese and Spanish Grand Prix, it has a very limited impact. There's still over a week to turn the cars around and a lot of the components for the next race are produced here in the factory,” said Horner.

“The factory hasn't been affected – obviously the turnaround components are a little bit out of sync now coming back two or three days late, but with the additional week, we're confident it won't cause us any major issues,” added the Red Bull principal.

Horner also revealed a few details from his trip back home from China, where he was joined by team driver Mark Webber.

“Mark Webber and I left the hotel in Shanghai at 0430hrs on Sunday morning. We got a 0715hrs flight from Shanghai to Dubai on Monday, then went from Dubai to Rome, arriving 2030hrs local time. We got a flight from the other Rome airport to Nice, had a night there, then got a flight early on Tuesday morning to Glasgow.”

“I think we were one of the first aeroplanes to go over British airspace. We landed in Glasgow at 1205hrs on Tuesday, only to find out that Mark had forgotten his passport! After enjoying some local hospitality, we managed to get a helicopter transfer from Glasgow to Oxfordshire; arriving in Oxfordshire at 1600hrs on Tuesday,” concluded Horner.