Following the new world record for the fastest pit stop that Red Bull Racing managed to pull off during the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, managing to do a 1,82 seconds change on the Max Verstappen's car, it took them one week to decide that it was not enough.
The technical team of Red Bull held a pit stop in zero gravity, you read that right, Zero Gravity!. The pit stop was carried out at an altitude of almost 32,000 feet (9.7 km) in an IL-76 MDK, a turbofan strategic flyer designed by the Soviet Union, where astronauts train in “artificial” zero gravity for going into space. Yes, again, a Formula 1 car, in an airplane full of glorified mechanics, losing altitude at an alarming speed in the name of, showbiz I guess?
With the help of specialists from Roscosmos State Corporation, responsible for a wide range and types of space flights and astronautic programs, the RB team delivered the 2005 RB1 F1 racing car to the Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City to begin this insane exercise of skill display.
Over the course of a week, 16 crew members attended intensive training sessions in order to efficiently and safely perform multiple zero gravity flights, in a not so generous space, together with a Formula 1 car.
Each flight was carried out in a parabolic trajectory, meaning that first the plane rose at an angle of 45°, and then dive in free fall, creating about 22 seconds of zero gravity before the next take-off. This way, the crew of mechanics had the challenge to change all 4 wheels of the F1 car, in under 20 seconds.
From the words of Paul ‘Harry’ Knight, a veteran of the Red Bull Racing garage: “It’s certainly the most extreme. We’ve done some amazing things in the past, many of them wonderful – but this was a bit different. I couldn’t possibly say! I loved every minute of this though – it was a great experience.”
One thing remains to be done, check out the video of how this F1 team took their skills to another world.
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