[RahulNagaraj]

The Red Bull F1 team recently put their pit crew to the test by trying to attempt a typical tyre-change pit stop in total darkness.

The Red Bull F1 team, which dominated the 2023 season, also have one of the fastest pit crews in the paddock. During the Qatar Grand Prix, the team pulled off an impressive 1.88-second pit stop time during one of the practice sessions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCabQ_ivUyU

So, to do the pit stop in darkness, the crew initially had a few practice runs with a stationary car and the lights on, but with their visors covered in black tape. The practice then got a little trickier, with the F1 car coming to a rolling stop. The practice runs though yielded a best time of 4.93 seconds.

However, during the real test, the lights went out, and only the driver and jack operator could see, as part of a safety procedure. After a few tries, the Red Bull pit crew recorded an astounding 2.84-second pit stop time.

While the pit stop in total darkness doesn't serve any practical use, it is still an impressive feat to do.

Link to Team-BHP news

[saikishor]

Nice, but can they catch up to this guy?

[Turbohead]

Originally Posted by saikishor

Nice, but can they catch up to this guy?

They might not by quicker than that guy but they're definitely quicker than Ferrari, with their eyes wide open, on average all through the season. No mean feat!

[ex-innova-guy]

Red Bull’ pit stop consistency can’t be matched.

Here’s a video of Top 10 Fastest Pit Stops of all time.
- 9/10 of them are done on Red Bull cars
- The slowest pit stop in this i.e. 10th fastest is 1.91 seconds.
- The fastest was done by McLaren in 1.80 seconds at the Qatar GP 2023.

https://youtu.be/FE5FGSEQc8Q?si=MSE43we_wpjcRB-C

[Thalla]

This news must have given some sleepless nights to the Ferrari crew.

[ds.raikkonen]

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

However, during the real test, the lights went out, and only the driver and jack operator could see, as part of a safety procedure. After a few tries, the Red Bull pit crew recorded an astounding 2.84-second pit stop time.

While the pit stop in total darkness doesn't serve any practical use, it is still an impressive feat to do.

Even though completely useless in the real world, what an achievement
What gets me is not the 'fastest' pit stops but the consistency or average pit stop times of RBR. Its like they have a hive mind!

What they could have done instead to prove a point not just in F1 but to the world in general would have been to try out a WEC style pit stop (with their eyes wide open) and perhaps see how they compare with those crews (also should not have slept for the past 20 hrs to make it realistic ). Or perhaps a WRC style full service pit stop, rally crew members are crazy quick!