PITCREW OF THE YEAR

Red Bull

There is probably no team in Formula 1 better at good old-fashioned mechanic-ing than Red Bull. Whether it’s servicing the cars in world record time during races, swapping engines with incredible efficiency, or repairing damaged cars at breakneck pace, the Red Bull pitcrew remains the benchmark in F1 – and is thus a deserved recipient of this award.

The team won F1’s fastest pitstop prize an incredible 15 times from 17 races in 2020, including nine sub-two-seconds efforts across the season. Three times Red Bull turned its cars around in less than 1.9s, with 1.86s efforts in Russia and Portugal the fastest stops of the season. No other team made a stop quicker than two seconds, though Williams came closest with a 2.00s stop for George Russell in Russia.

Calmness under pressure is key, and perhaps nowhere was that more evident than in Hungary, after star driver Max Verstappen crashed his car in wet conditions on the way to the grid. Mechanics had to replace the front wing and parts of the suspension with the clock ticking down to the start of the race.

“The funny thing is, I wasn’t stressed about it,” said team boss Christian Horner after Verstappen finished second in his repaired car. “I felt that if anyone could do the repairs then our mechanics could. You’d need to be a sensational piano player to be able to work your fingers within the space they had, such is the tight design of these cars.

“They were properly buzzed in the garage and then had to calm themselves down because it is the same mechanics doing the pitstops. They smashed in a sub-two-second pitstop as well – the quickest during the race – for the third race in a row. It was a phenomenal performance.”

“Perfection’s a goal we strive for but rarely reach – but the guys have shown such professionalism, and the team spirit is extraordinary. The guys have worked harder and harder on consistency. The fact they are achieving sub-two-second pitstops is extraordinary; the number they’ve racked up this year, under pressure, in race situations – we’re at the point now where we’re doing faster pitstops in the races than we are in practice.”

Jonathan Wheatley, sporting director