An Oracle Red Bull Racing Formula 1 makes history on the rails of the Madrid Metro

Red Bull has made history by getting, for the first time, a single-seater from the team Oracle Red Bull Racingpiloted by the Austrian Patrick Friesacher, circulate on the Madrid Metro tracksin what has been a great challenge of engineering, technical expertise and skill.

Friesacher was in charge of driving the RB8 on the rails of the Madrid Metro, the iconic single-seater equipped with a 2.4-liter Renault RS27 V8 engine and nearly 750 HP of power with which Sebastian Vettel won his third Formula 1 World Championship in 2012.

The single-seater, during closing hours of the entire Madrid underground, toured stations such as the Metropolitan Stadium, thus celebrating the return of the 2027 Spanish Grand Prix to the capital after 45 years, with MadRing as the home of Formula 1.

To get the car to circulate on the rails a real engineering challenge had to be donedesigning a complex technical adaptation, never done before, so that the car could face a completely different environment.

The Canillejas workshops served as the operational center of the project. There, on their lathes, custom metal wheels weighing 29.8 kilos each were designed and manufactured in record time, approximately double the weight of a conventional Formula 1 wheel, which allowed the RB8 to adapt to the rails of the Madrid suburban.

“It has been an incredible experience. I have been lucky enough to have many experiences with the Heritage team, but driving an F1 on the subway tracks has been surreal. It is great to be able to add ‘Metro driver’ to my resume,” said Friesacher after completing the challenge.

This action wanted to highlight one of the most distinctive elements of the future Madrid circuit as it is the only city on the Formula 1 calendar with a Metro station located next to its main entrance.