Unfortunately this post is to let you know that Gives You Wings will no longer be updated.

It has been short and sweet, and this decision has been forced due to increased commitments over at my other site, and heaps of real life work to do.

I will continue to Tweet over at @GivesYouWingsF1, so we can still chat about all things Red Bull and Toro Rosso there, but I have got to a point where I realise I’m not going to be able to update the blog enough so that it is worth reading.

I couldn’t let blogging about my favourite drivers go that easily, and I thought if I set up a blog focussing solely on one of my favourite drivers, rather than all four, I think I’ll have just about enough time to update it as I would like. So, my blog stalking Jaime Alguersuari can now be found at: http://alguersuarirocks.wordpress.com/, although there is no content on that blog yet, and don’t expect updates too often!

Thanks to all who have commented or even just read Gives You Wings, and long live Red Bull in F1!

Au revoir,

Jack

As you can see there are 4 different sized wallpapers for each driver, so make sure you download the correct size for your desktop.

Leave a comment if you like them!

This post may not be entirely F1 relevant, in fact, it’s not really relevant to F1 at all, but it is relevant to Red Bull.

The Winter Olympics is one of my favourite sporting events, and I love it when it comes around, and a few people who I have spoken to on Twitter seem to be catching the Winter Olympics bug too! The giant energy drink manufacturer who own our two favourite F1 teams, also back two big athletes in the Olympics who you should support!

Shaun White

23-year-old American Shaun White is a snowboarder, who has won just about everything he has participated in, from Winter Olympics gold in Torino 2006 to gold in the X-games skateboarding! Shaun will be participating in the men’s halfpipe on February 17th!

Lindsey Vonn

25-year-old American Lindsey Vonn is an alpine skier, who won gold medals in the 2009 World Championships last year, but has never won an Olympic medal. Lets hope this year is her first!

Lindsey has a packed schedule, and is competing in the Ladies’ Downhill, Ladies’ Super Combined, Ladies’ Super-G, Ladies’ Slalom and Ladies’ Giant Slalom on 17th February, 18th February, 20th February, 26th February and February 24th respectively.

Leave me a comment if you are also enjoying the Winter Olympics!

What makes me ask the question is the distinct similarities between the STR5 and Red Bull’s 2010 car the RB6, as displayed in this image below:

Now, strip away the liveries and anyone would have a hard time telling which one is which!

The V-nose bumps are a bit more pointy on the STR5 and perhaps the side pods are slightly more curved, but other than that, wings etc. look exactly the same.

This is because it appears that both 2010 Red Bull cars are modifications on the best 2009 chassis on the grid; the RB5:

Toro Rosso technical director Giorgio Ascanelli has said that they were using last year’s car as a baseline. When talking about the development of the STR5 he said: “We were blessed with the fact that last year’s design from Red Bull Technology was a bloody good car.”

However, that’s where the similarities end. The Toro Rosso may have taken the RB5 chassis, but there is also evidence of their own-in house work:

The whole rear-end of the STR5 looks considerably different to that of the Red Bull; the crash structure and beam wing on the two cars are different:

STR5 rear

RB6 rear

I believe that thinking Toro Rosso would go and create a radical F1 masterpiece is ludicrous in their first season. The team would have had the design from the amazing Red Bull RB5 and both of the 2010 Red Bull cars are evolutions of the RB5, so the designs are always going to be similar.

However as I have shown in the images, Toro Rosso have made changes to the car and it is different in some ways to the RB6. You must also remember that Toro Rosso use a Ferrari engine and Red Bull a Renault engine, so their is much to suggest that while they have mostly the same exterior, the interior of the two cars are very different.

They have made changes to the car and as time progresses and the car designs become more radical, Toro Rosso will have their own interpretations and ideas until they are designing the car all by themselves.

Driver: Mark Webber; Car: RB6-01; Laps: 50; Best time: 1.26.502; Circuit length: 4.423km; Fastest lap: N. Rosberg: 1:20.927

Mark Webber set the ninth-fastest time on the opening day of testing in Jerez. The brand new RB6 was launched in the pit lane prior to the start of the test.

The test was blighted by rain for most of the day, but that didn’t stop the team from making good progress, completing new car system checks.

An oil leak in the RB6 late in the morning led to a precautionary engine change in the afternoon. Despite this, Ian Morgan, Red Bull’s head of race engineering is feeling optimistic:

“It was great to finally see the car in action after a long winter with no testing. Everything ran very smoothly this morning and the build of the car was very structured. It’s frustrating that a problem with a simple component late morning forced an engine change later in the day, as it cost us quite a lot of time. However, the most disappointing thing today was the weather – it’s good to have a test in the wet, but it’s not ideal when it’s your first. We’re hoping for better conditions tomorrow when we will continue working through the new car system checks.”

Ian Morgan

For a thorough report on the day’s ongoings at Jerez, click here.

Image (C) Red Bull/Getty Images

The car

Newey & Co. haven’t disappointed on the RB6 either – the metallic blue looks great as usual, coupled with the shaped sidepods, the V-shaped nose and the shark fin. Here are some pics of the Red Bull RB6 being launched:

Here are some studio pics of the RB6:

The majority of those who have tweeted at me have given the RB6 the thumbs up!

@JamBlah said: “@GivesYouWingsF1 That smooth line from rear suspension over the pods, up to the crest of the nose and gently down again. Glorious…”

@Cubejam commented: “@GivesYouWingsF1 As usual the Newey-Red Bull partnership produces a beautiful car. I expected more, but if it aint broken don’t fix it!”

@theEmzi added: “@GivesYouWingsF1 The RB6 is beautiful!! Can´t find more words for it right now. Wow, I hope it will kick ass, but it´s too early to tell =D”

The drivers

Seb Vettel

Seb’s new helmet has got the pattern of a Red Bull can on it! It is a creation of JMD who we talked about in yesterday’s post.

Most of you who I spoke to liked the helmet, but one criticism a few people had about the helmet is that it is too corporate. Personally, I love the helmet and to be honest I don’t think that it has any more Red Bull branding on it than any of his other helmets – you won’t be able to notice that it is a Red Bull can unless you look at it close up!

Mark Webber

Mark has stuck to his traditional helmet design, with the blue, red and yellow pattern. He also has an Australian emblem on the back of the helmet which I hadn’t noticed before.

What do you think of anything Red Bull Racing, from the new helmet to the RB6? Let me know in the comments!

Images (C) Red Bull/Getty Images

Images (C) Red Bull

It may not be a name us lot are familiar with, but if you are in the racing business, Jens Munser will certainly be a name you will know.

Munser is a helmet designer with the JMD designs company in Germany. JMD have an impressive list of clients on their CV, designing helmets for the Mercedes GP drivers Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, Rubens Barrichello, Felipe Massa, Nick Heidfeld and Giancarlo Fisichella, and of course Red Bull! Scott Speed had his Toro Rosso helmet designed by JMD when he was at the team, and many other Red Bull-backed racing drivers have had their helmets designed by this company, including Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

Jens Munser from JMD helps Seb design most of his helmets – hence why on the bottom-front of Seb’s helmets, it says JMD. I have found some images of Seb’s 2009 China helmet being painted by Jens Munser, from start to finish, and have done my best to describe what is happening in all the images:

Jens Munser paints the base coat onto Vettel’s carbon fibre Arai helmet, including the thin gold detailing on the helmet. Believe it or not, only very small detailing on the helmet is sprayed gold to save weight!

The gold lines on Vettel’s helmet is then covered in thin tape to stop them being sprayed over.

More of the helmet is covered by the designer to avoid areas on the design coming into contact with the wrong paint layer. Once again, minimal paint is added to make sure that the helmet weighs as little as possible.

Munser then readies the silver paint to go on the helmet, to fit the traditional blue & silver Red Bull helmet colours.

The silver paint is then sprayed on to the helmet.

The helmet is then dried in a 50 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Using a computer template, Munser then draws the design on to the helmet with a pencil, which is sat on a special mount so the helmet doesn’t slip.

The silver areas are now covered in masking tape as the helmet is now ready for the classic Red Bull blue colour. The masking tape has to be done perfectly as if it goes over the silver areas, it would mean having to respray the helmet silver and therefore adding weight.

The classic Red Bull blue is then added to the helmet. He can safely spray over the masking tape, as this will be removed later. The helmet is once again placed in the oven after the blue is sprayed on.

The tape is removed and the Red Bull branding is then tackled.

The floral pattern on the top and chin of Vettel’s helmet is designed on the computer.

The pattern is now transferred on to the top of the helmet which is made white. A matt finish is then applied.

After over 16 hours the helmet is complete!

Seb finishes the job off, wearing the helmet to Red Bull Racing’s first ever win at the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix.

This by itself is hardly that interesting, given that it is only a sentence and a few pictures about a driver most of us have never heard of.

However upon researching Brian Vickers, I found some simply awesome pictures and a video, showing Brian Vickers has every right to have the crimson bull on the side of his car. Last year, he, in his NASCAR Toyota alongside his pit crew performed a full pit stop in the middle of the notoriously busy Times Square in New York, before aggressively racing away. Brilliant:

Which of the 2010 Red Bull F1 drivers are you most like? Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, or Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari or Sebastien Buemi.

I have made a 5-questions-long Facebook quiz, which should determine which driver you are most like!

I have took the test and discovered I am most like Seb Buemi – something which pleases me given that he is my favourite driver!

Have you taken the quiz: Who are you most like? Is it your favourite driver or is it completely unexpected? Let me know in the comments!

Click here to take the quiz!!!!!!!!!

For those who don’t know, Gives You Wings has a page on Facebook! Why not join!?