Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said he has been “astounded” by Formula 1’s ‘Project Pitlane’ response to the coronavirus, even if it led to some “unthinkable” scenarios.
Soon after the teams returned to the UK from Australia, after the failed attempt to start the 2020 season, it was announced the seven outfits located in the country would come together to provide medical equipment for the NHS to help the fight against Covid-19.
The biggest successes from the collaboration came from Mercedes, who developed their own CPAP device in partnership with University College London.
However, Red Bull and others have been focusing on another key need, ventilators.
“I think it said a huge amount for Formula 1. We approached the government as soon as we saw this crisis looming, and then got in coordination with other teams as well,” Horner told Motorsport.com of the sport’s response.
“We identified a project that we were assigned to, and we were assigned to it with Renault. I was astounded to see the volunteers that stepped forward unconditionally 24/7 to support this project.
“We had people like our chief designer Rob Marshall working on it. I think he did three successive all-nighters on it, and unbelievable efforts that were going in to turn what was a fairly rudimentary concept into a fully-functional, fully-developed, ventilator.”
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Of course, Red Bull’s recent history with Renault isn’t great after the two teams fell out in the final years of their long-standing engine partnership.
Still, you’d have never known any of that had happened judging by how the two teams worked together on Project Pitlane.
“At that point, your competitive spirit goes out the window, and it’s about coming up with solutions,” Horner explained.
“So we had people from Renault working in our factory, in their own team kit, in our race bays, in our facility. Unthinkable under normal circumstances!
“We had [Renault technical advisor] Bob Bell working alongside Rob Marshall, coming up with solutions that astounded the industry.
“It was not only the solution, but also the speed at which Formula 1 operates because solutions were identified and machined overnight, and running on a rig by the time people came back in the following morning.
“What normally would have taken three years to get this machine signed off was actually done in three-and-a-half weeks.”
Ultimately, despite gaining approval, the UK government later cancelled an order of the ventilators produced by Red Bull and Renault as it was deemed no longer necessary.
Still, the achievement was enough by itself to impress Horner.
“Of course there was a degree of disappointment when we didn’t then go into flat out production once we were geared up to do that,” he said.
“But then also, when you thought about it, it was actually a very good thing that they weren’t required because it meant that the need for the National Health Service wasn’t so dire that these emergency ventilators weren’t going to be required.
“I think it highlighted Formula 1’s ingenuity, it’s ability to problem solve, rapid prototype, and come up with fixes, and just the can-do attitude, and never be beaten philosophy of Formula 1,” he added.
“I think it epitomised all the positives about the sport, and some of the cleverest and brightest engineers in the country that work in Formula 1.”