If winning all but one race in the 2023 Formula One season wasn’t enough for the Oracle Red Bull Racing team, another achievement has been met as the teams’ pit crew completed the sport’s first ever pit stop in complete darkness.

The Pitch Black Pit Stop was achieved by the crew relying on their intuition, muscle memory and touch as the team showed why it has been so dominant the last few years.

Red Bull’s consistency during pit stops is no secret and the World Champions have picked up the DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award for six seasons in a row. To prepare for the challenge, members of the crew practised the challenge blindfolded only three times at the Red Bull Technology Campus before being plunged into darkness on the day itself. Not only was this the case, but the visors of the pit crew’s helmets were also blacked out ensuring that all visibility was restricted. In all, it took 22 pit crew, 10 attempts to achieve a staggering 2.84 second stop, just a second off the team’s record time at the 2019 Brazil Grand Prix.

Starting with a time of 8.84 seconds, the team managed to bring their time down by 4.93 seconds after giving themselves the target of three seconds within 10 attempts. This was all performed in front of 27 cameras using specialist filming equipment to ensure the challenge was documented in both infrared and regular film.

Oracle Red Bull Racing Sporting Director, Jonathan Wheatley said: “…The time of 2.84 seconds is a strong stop even in broad daylight! I’m certainly not saying that I would like to turn the lights out in a race, but being able to pull this off so succinctly, in the pitch black, shows what a well-oiled machine the crew is and testament to the fact we have won six consecutive DHL’s Fastest Pit Stop Awards. Beautiful work.”

Watch the Pitch Black Pit Stop on the Oracle Red Bull Racing YouTube channel here.

Words: Mike Booth
Pictures: Magenta Stills / Red Bull Content Pool