Red Bull Racing: Putting Milton Keynes on the Map

As a young boy growing up in the ever expanding area of Milton Keynes I always yearned for sporting heroes to be born out of England’s newest city.

Up until this point however these sporting talents were few and far between. Certain people have made headlines.

Notable athletes Craig Pickering and Greg Rutherford have made splashes into the world arena, although the formers frustrating failure to take the baton in time in the Olympic relay was a highly cringe worthy moment worthy of forgetting.

The Milton Keynes football team has seen a slight revolution in the last couple of years also, but as I don’t regard them as truly being born out of Milton Keynes I have always somewhat looked towards Formula 1 for the emergence of heroics coming from my home town.

It began with Stewart Racing, who produced the occasional flashes of brilliance, accompanied however with more often than not displays of under achievement. Their definitive moment was though the lucky win achieved by Johnny Herbert in the chaotic European Grand Prix of 1999.

Stewart Racing then became the Jaguar Racing team who were consistently plagued with reliability issues that ultimately restricted them from becoming constant front runners.

Then it began to change. A shift looked to take place. David Coulthard revitalised his career and as a result, Milton Keynes’ Formula One prospects grew when Jaguar Racing became Red Bull Racing in 2004.

A solid start saw promising scenes in the debut season for the new challengers, and the literal super heroic scenes of Coulthard’s infamous cape at Monaco in the following seasons gave food for thought that finally a Milton Keynes outfit was heading to the top.

And with today’s glorious debut victory for Red Bull Racing and Sebastien Vettel the wings have at last opened and the team are preparing to fly to promising dizzy heights never before seen in the place the modern city of its birth.

David Coulthard’s somewhat choked reaction to the victory he had helped the team strive towards perfectly summed up my own emotions. To have watched a team with such spirit and character finally being rewarded was a joy to watch and has given momentous hope for future successes.

There is no doubt that the Milton Keynes papers will be full of the Chinese glory in the days to come.

This weekend’s events highlight the deserving story of a stunning spectacle coming flawlessly into fruition.

I am ultimately proud to behold the Red Bull Racing team as an image of sporting talent for Milton Keynes and hope that it is an image that becomes ever more extravagant in the following seasons.