There are various reasons why those in the F1 circus – particularly the teams – feel happy to get back to the European races in between the fly-aways. But one in particular is difficult to imagine why – the team motorhomes. These are the temporary structures that the teams use as ‘headquarters’.
Well, it may be temporary but that’s just because it needs to be disassembled and put back together again at the different race tracks around Europe. Other than that it’s massively impressive, just take a look at Red Bull’s new motorhome. Like the one before it, it’s called the Red Bull F1 Energy Station, but this new one has also been nicknamed F1 Holzhaus (Wood House). You can clearly see why, and the wood used in the design are mostly sustainable larch wood from Austria.
The Holzhaus is based on the MotorGP motorhome which made an appearance at the Austrian GP. Since it was so well received, Red Bull F1 simply decided to build one for themselves, albeit bigger than the original. Both Red Bull teams – Scuderia Toro Rosso and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing – will be using the same Energy Station and used during last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.
The new motorhome is 1,221 sq. m. (32m long, 14m wide, and 11m high) and has 27 per cent more space than the one it replaces. It will take 32 hours to be assembled by a crew of 25 people, although taking it down will only take one day. Inside, there are 26 Red Bull coolers, 59 TV screens, and 32 kilometres length of cables. Once the kitchen is done for the weekend, it would have served 100kg of pasta, 120kg of fish, and 180kg of meat to team members and guests.
It wouldn’t be so easy to use this motorhome in the Asia/Middle-east flyaway races for logistical reasons. Especially so with the Holzhaus, because it does not have air-conditioning and uses natural convection for cooling instead.
