Tag Archives: Red Bull

Insert Safety Car Here

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Mercedes-AMG’s seven-year dominance of the Formula 1 World Championship finally ended in 2021. Well, sort of… they still won the Constructor’s Championship, making it eight-in-a-row, but Lewis Hamilton did not win an eighth Driver’s Championship, and as such may now never move ahead of the record he shares with Schumacher.

Of course we also say ‘sort of’ thanks the controversial way in which Hamilton lost the Driver’s Championship on the final laps of the final race to Max Verstappen.

Thanks to crash-a-holic Lattifi (who – if he wasn’t paying to drive the car – surely wouldn’t be in Formula 1), and an improbable safety car decision that eventually cost race director Michael Masi his job, Verstappen was able to pass Hamilton on the final lap, giving us the first new World Champion in four seasons, and ending years of ‘#blessed’ instagram posts from the bejewelled multiple-champion.

Cue much arm waving and shouting from Mercedes-AMG (unusual, seeing as Christian Horner of Red Bull had done it all season for various imagined grievances), an investigation, but the race result standing. Which, by the way, we’re all for.

Yes the rules hadn’t been followed, but we’re of the opinion that even if there’s just one corner of the race remaining, it is a race, and therefore it should be, well… raced. Plus it made for amazing TV.

Anyway, Verstappen took the Championship, Hamilton felt what it’s like to lose (although he’s more than familiar with that this season), and fans got a finale to talk about for years to come.

This is the car that took Verstappen to his first Formula 1 Driver’s World Championship, the Honda-powered Red Bull RB16B, as created in spectacular detail by previous bloggee Noah_L of Flickr, and joining his already-impressive roster of brick-built modern Formula 1 cars.

The incredible realism is enhanced by some frankly jaw-dropping decals, created for Noah by a fellow builder, and there’s more to see of his astonishing (and beautifully presented) creation at his ‘Red Bull RB16B’ album on Flickr, where a link to building instructions can also be found.

Click the link above to deploy the safety car…

*It’s the Azerbaijan Grand Prix today. If you’re a Hamilton / Mercedes-AMG fan, this link from the 2018 race may raise a snicker.

Gives You Wings

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The 2021 Formula 1 season is about to begin, with the team reveals arriving thick and fast. TLCB – with our finger on the pulse as usual – are bringing you a car from 2011…

Of course what colour sponsorship the teams have this year won’t change the fact that they’ll be fighting for second place, and we’ll be watching Formula-1-driver-cum-irritating-eco-warrior Lewis Hamilton cruise to an 8th World Championship in the dominant Mercedes-AMG.

However it wasn’t always Mercedes-Benz who ruled Formula 1. In fact there have been several teams that have dominated the sport for a period, including Williams (remember that!), McLaren, Ferrari*, and – just before the current AMG-whitewash – Red Bull.

From 2010 to 2014 Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel won four consecutive World Championships, in part due to this car; the fabulous Adrian Newey designed ‘blown diffuser’ RB7, that used exhaust gasses to create downforce even when the engine was coasting. Not bad for a soft drinks company.

This brilliant recreation of the title-winning Red Bull RB7 comes from Noah_L of Flickr, who has not only built and photographed his RB7 absolutely beautifully, he’s endowed it with some of the most realistic (and complicated) decals we’ve ever seen on a Lego model, even down to the ‘Pirelli P Zero’ labels on the tyres.

It’s a wonderfully accurate build, with removable rear bodywork, a highly detailed engine, and spindly ‘suspension’, and there are loads more stunning images to see at Noah’s ‘Red Bull RB7’ album.

Click the link to head to a time before Mercedes-Benz domination, taking the knee, spectator-less venues, and Lewis Hamilton tweeting that we need to do more for the environment from inside his private jet.

*We know the link isn’t to a dominant early 2000s Ferrari, because surprisingly the Archives reveal we’ve never blogged a Scuderia Ferrari from the Schumacher-era. However we will take any opportunity to remind people that Ferrari are scumbags… Here’s the link again.

Midnight Master

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Lego Kamaz Master Dakar Truck

This immaculately detailed and beautifully photographed creation was discovered by one of our Elves on Flickr. It’s a Kamaz Master Dakar-spec rally truck in full Red Bull livery and it looks, as you can see here, rather special. Silva Vasil is making his TLCB debut with this build, and there’s lots more to see at his Flickr photostream – click the link above for more stunning imagery.

Lego Kamaz Dakar Rally Truck Red Bull

Drag Racing

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Lego Technic F1 Ferrari

Formula 1 might be constrained by four million regulations but it does still occasionally provide good racing. The surprise of the 2015 season has been Ferrari, who after a woeful 2014 seem to have mostly sorted their latest car. Don’t underestimate the role Vettel played in fixing the prancing horse though – as his previous team Red Bull seem to be going backwards (and doing so very ungracefully too). Coincidence?

Anyway, one of the more ridiculous of the four million regulations in Formula 1 these days is the DRS (Drag Reduction System). It’s a neat engineering solution that should be able to be used whenever the driver feels like it, not just when Bernie Ecclestone’s computer deems it to be OK.

TLCB regular Sariel has created a Ferrari-ish Formula 1 car that uses this feature the way we would like – his working DRS on the rear wing is deployed automatically in top gear. His fully RC model also features pushrod suspension, return-to-centre steering and a range of other Technic functions. You can see them all on MOCpages, plus a video of the car and its DRS in action.

Lego Ferrari Formula 1

Start Your Engines!

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Lego F1 Racer 2013

Is that David Coulthard at the wheel?

With the 2013 Formula 1 season nearly upon us, Lego Builders brings us his mildly updated generic racing car. Life imitates Lego this year, and the changes to the 2013 cars are minor, in readiness for the new V6 turbos arriving in 2014. So, who do you think can challenge Vettel and Red Bull Racing for the Championship in 2013?