Red Bull: Bringing the mountains to Milton Keynes

Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s 2015 drivers, Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat, together with team principal Christian Horner, brought a taste of the Austrian Alps to Milton Keynes today, as they met the media on the slopes of MK (otherwise known as the Milton Keynes Snozone) ahead of the new season.

With the RB11 due to run next week in Jerez, the drivers took the opportunity to outline their aspirations for the season ahead, while Christian gave his views on the 2015 team and his hopes for the new partnership of Red Bull young guns Ricciardo and Kvyat. In between interviews, the three took to the slopes to test their skills skiing against an alpine slalom course, or sledge in Daniel’s case – our Aussie being more familiar with surf than snow.

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When you think of Red Bull’s Austrian homeland, the first thing that generally springs to mind, especially at this time of year is twinkling, glittering snow-covered Alpine slopes… and of barreling down them on a snowboard.

Despite its myriad charms, thoughts of our team’s home location in January don’t quite have the same... romance. A wintry Milton Keynes is more about roundabouts in the rain than black runs and Gluhwein. So, when it came to taking our drivers for a day out with the F1 media to properly launch out 2015 season, we thought: ’hang on a minute... why don’t we bring the mountains to Milton Keynes?’

So, today that’s exactly what we did. For one day only, MK’s SnoZone indoor ski slope was transformed into a little slice of the Austrian Alps for our 2015 Driver Day.

Stars of the show were, of course, Daniel Ricciardo and new Infiniti Red Bull Racing recruit Daniil Kvyat, but also on hand to get in some skiing practice were Team Principal Christian Horner and former Red Bull driver David Coulthard.

For Daniel, raised in the heat haze of Western Australia, the prospect of a day in a building where they make it snow inside on purpose must have seemed like insanity but the Aussie, who has spent most of the past month in the Austral summer, embraced the madness, careering down the slope on a tiny sledge with the sport of abandon that would give risk assessors panic attacks.

Daniil, meanwhile, grabbed a set of skis and took off like a pro. In fact he enjoyed it so much that the only way we could eventually coax him off the slope was with the offer of some really good hot chocolate, but not before he’d had a good go at topping the timesheets in the morning’s slalom competition.

After that it was down to the main business of the day – media sessions and thoughts of the season to come.

Asked about his off-season preparation and what’s he’s been up to since the end of the season, Daniel relit that 1000-watt smile and said: "Well, it was the opposite of what I’m standing in right now!

"It was good, I had some time off but to be honest I would have been happy if the season had kept going after Abu Dhabi," he said. "We had a pretty good run of races and I was enjoying but at the same time you need to have some time off. That’s all done now, though, and I have to say I’m looking forward to testing next week. I’m really hanging out to get behind the wheel now."

And with good reason: with three wins last year, Daniel goes into this season with the hope of more to come.

"The aim is just to try and do even more than last year," he said. "To get three wins with how we started [last year] was pretty cool but I expect to do better than that. Hopefully a few more wins than three and that will put us in championship hunt."

For Daniil, next week’s first test in Jerez will be his first taste of Infiniti Red Bull Racing machinery and the young Russian admitted he is massively looking forward to the season ahead.

"It’s very exciting for me this year," he said. "Obviously we’ll do the best job possible with the team and I’m really looking forward to it."

Asked about the prospect of racing alongside Daniel, the 21-year-old said: "We know each for a long time now, since we were in the Red Bull Junior Team so maybe five or six years, so everything is good, he’s a really good guy.

"However, I know he’ll be pushing very hard, like he proved last year, so I’ll have to match that. We’re both going to be trying to bring a very positive and strong energy to the team which I hope will take the team to the top."

For Team Principal Christian Horner, the new partnership represents an exciting new phase for the team.

"They’re both very quick they’re both products of the Junior Team, so there’s a really exciting dynamic within the team. It’s a real evolution for the team to have two such young, promising drivers. They know what’s expected of them and it’s out job to support them and get the best out of them."

Looking to the season ahead he added that following a year of progress the expectation is now of a closer battle with champions Mercedes.

"Last year was tough but we still finished second in the Constructors’ Championship, third in the Drivers’ with Daniel, and won three grands prix. I would say it was a year of evolution, particularly with this new power unit. But the whole team has been working incredibly hard over the winter and we’re hoping to close that gap down to Mercedes. They’ll be the benchmark again but hopefully we can give them a hard time."