Bulls can't climb trees...

Which is very lucky for anyone walking underneath them. But Red Bull Racing’s engineers now have their very own tree-house at the race tracks. Last year, the famous Energy Station hospitality unit could often get a bit rowdy, what with its open house policy and the Formula Una ladies hanging around looking decorative, so this year, our engineers will have a quiet cabin in the clouds in which to exercise their little grey cells.

The team has built a glass and metal office, in similar style to the Energy Station, but obviously much smaller, that sits above two of the race trucks behind the pit garages.

Immediately named “The Tree House,” it made its track debut at this week’s Barcelona test. Maybe it’s in keeping with Red Bull’s tradition of getting involved with “extreme sports,” but just getting in and out of the Tree House requires nerves of steel as it is approached by an incredibly steep and very narrow staircase. There’s no landing outside the house, so any absent minded engineer who steps out the door while thinking about wing angles will soon find himself flying, but without those all-important wings to help him!

This week’s test in Barcelona was supposed to be our last of the season. However, so much time was lost in Spain because cold weather and rain meant no meaningful work could be carried out for the first few hours of the day than another final pre-Bahrain test has been squeezed in at Valencia.

To be honest, the weather was not entirely to blame as reliability problems with RB2 also reduced track time. But you don’t get anywhere in Formula One moaning about things and Sporting Director Christian Horner prefers to concentrate on the positives and there are plenty of them. “The new bodywork we introduced is doing what it is supposed to do and RB2 has obvious potential which we are now beginning to see,” claims Christian. “Klien did a decent lap today (24 February) in testing which proves the car has got speed. The engineers have a good understanding of how the car reacts to set-up changes and the drivers are growing in confidence in its abilities. Everyone in the team is working flat out to be as well prepared as possible for Bahrain and the final test in Valencia will give us more track time to smooth out a few rough edges in the overall package.”