Verstappen takes to the ski slopes in a Red Bull RB7

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Max Verstappen took a Red Bull RB7 on the slopes of the Streif ski course in Kitzbuehel in a demonstration run on Thursday.

With snow chains and studs fitted to his wet weather tyres, Verstappen drove the team’s 2011 world championship-winning car on a specially-designed course on the Austrian ski slopes.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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44 comments on “Verstappen takes to the ski slopes in a Red Bull RB7”

  1. Tag Heuer logos on the engine cover of RB7.

  2. Beautiful pictures! Never knew a F1 car fitted so well in snowy scenery… Love it!

    1. ColdFly F1 (@)
      15th January 2016, 6:58

      That’s what I expect Red Bull to do; be different with a lot of fun.
      And it creates a lot of positive press for Red Bull and the sport.

      Well done Red Bull.

  3. Looks like he had a nICE drive. HAHAHAHAHA!
    Seriously though, the coolest thing I have seen in F1 for a long time, well done Red Bull.

    1. that was indeed seriously COOL… I would even say SUB-ZERO… ;)

      okay, I’ll let myself out now…

  4. The path of air flowing around the car is somewhat visible in this pic due to snow: https://www.racefans.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/max-verstappen-red-bull-snow-run-2016-23.jpg

    #CiaoJules

    1. Yeah, great picture indeed Akshat!

      See, this is how I like to see Red Bull – these sort of promotional events is what they are great at, they should always remember that, and act the part: F1/image is also about being seen in the right way.

  5. is funny how they take the V8 cars to exhibitions when they already have the 2 years old 2014 RB.. could it be to impress people with the sound and make them go see f1 ? which i think is lame, if they wish to attract people why not show them the real deal and not old glories

    1. Maybe because it is one of their WCCs?

      1. i thought about it.. but at the same time..if somebody new see the exhibition, might get hyped..because of the sound.. and the real thing now is different..(not that i care, what i love to see braking battles to see who gets the corner first, but not all the people have same taste, some always complain about modern turbo engines in f1, of the formula electric..)

        1. Several reasons… Nameley v8s are way more reliable, and easier to start. For v6 you need multiple times more time to get it going.

          1. Red Bull dont care about if people go see F1 or not. They wanna sell drinks and a fierce sounding machine is selling more drinks than a Prius will ever do. If people stop going to F1 becouse the sound is lame Red Bull will just put its marketing money on other stuff instead.

    2. They didn’t use their 2014 car because they feared the Renault engibe would break down.

    3. Ferrari is still using a weird 2009/2010 chassis hybrid for their exhibitions, but I doubt Ferrari fondly remembers 2009..

    4. j3d89, there is probably a more pragmatic reason for using the RB7 – under the current regulations, Red Bull do not need to apply for permission from the FIA in order to undertake a promotional event if the car is older than 2011, inclusive of that year.

      Whilst the regulations do permit the teams to use cars from the period from 2011-2014 for publicity events, the regulations are much stricter in order to prevent teams potentially abusing the system (for example, an FIA observer has to be present at the event).

      Overall, whilst Red Bull could choose a newer car, the whole procedure is much easier if they simply stick with the RB7 and therefore don’t require permission from the FIA in advance of the event.

  6. That wonderful TAG Heuer V8 engine :-D

  7. So does this mean that we can have the Canadian Gp in November now?

    1. Let’s go for it. Who needs Bernies sprinklers idea?
      That is a great bit of fun / publicity from Red Bull. I thought Coulthard on top of the Burj Khalifa helipad was good. But that was better.

  8. Do want video, lol.

    Seriously, this should be nearly as good as driving the Nordschleife in about a foot of snow.

    1. @atticus-2

      Do want video

      Wish granted!

      1. @keithcollantine Haha, thank you. For the notification as well. :)

  9. I wonder if they used the RB7 for the added downforce of the exhaust blown diffuser?

    Whatever I’ve often thought a snow race would be awesome. I know it would be about as safe as a 17 year old on a superbike in the rain with a hot girl watching, but that would be some epic racing.

    1. And Kimi’s only chance to ever win a race again. :P

      1. He’s chasing the icecream truck?

    2. I wonder if they used the RB7 for the added downforce of the exhaust blown diffuser?

      I don’t think he would have been driving fast enough for that to really come into play.
      The RB7 was used because the rules for using newer cars are far more strict.

  10. This looks amazing.
    I would love to see a GP in the snow. Surely still a gimmick too far for Berny.
    Pirelli could offer snow tyres with hard and soft chains.

  11. The main photo almost looks like an artwork!

  12. Perfect choice of car for the job! Sure, not a more recent machine, but the blown diffuser enabled the rear tires to get up to temperature beautifully!

  13. This is the craziest and best thing I’ve seen for so long… F1 car in my beloved setting. Truly and utterly cool. Not only because of the snow and ice ;-) Thanks Keith for sharing it with us! Cheers mate!

  14. Seems Red Bull in a stroke of brilliance found a way to prevent the Pirelli tyres from delaminating! ;)

  15. That’s practically pornographic.

  16. Christian calls Vettel “Hey Seb, yeah, Max just took Kinky Kylie out and trashed her all over the ski slopes. I think you can have your WDC winning car we promised you…” ;)

    1. @uan That is funny! Or: “Hey Max, here’s the WDC-winning car we promised you!”

  17. There’s no grip! There’s no grip!

    1. Xevi: Max, please let the Snowplow through.
      Max: NO!

  18. i wish they would show the car going round (like in F1 coverage) instead of the heavily edited slow motion shots :(

  19. Willem Cecchi (@)
    15th January 2016, 8:34

    Great demonstration. A bit dangerous having a teenager drive around with fans in such close proximity with no safety barriers. :)

  20. What an utterly pointless waste of time and money.

    What’s next?

    An F22 Raptor in the ExCeL centre, a super yacht down the Serpentine in Hyde Park?

    Oh I can’t wait!

    1. pretty much everything people do in their spare time is a waste of time and money. It’s called having fun.

      1. Spare time? This is a commercial promotional event.

  21. dont give bernies ideas he will be in talks to have a snow race included next year..and if the moneys right in possibly qatar.

  22. Those spiked tyres certainly make the car look a bit more … gladitatorial. Add some blades coming out of the hub and we’re in business!

    Pit-stops might be a little tricky though …

  23. Still has more grip than Button, lol :D

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