What can you do in 1.91 seconds?
It’s probably fair to wager it wouldn’t be a lot, whoever you are. But that’s how long it took Red Bull’s pit crew to change four tyres on Pierre Gasly’s car at the British Grand Prix on Sunday, making it the fastest ever stop in Formula One history.
Red Bull’s Aston Martin-sponsored car was adorned with 007 branding for F1’s 1007th race, with James Bond actor Daniel Craig watching on from the garage, and the team channeled the super-spy’s super reflexes in fine style on Sunday.
It means Red Bull now holds the outright record — it had previously shared it with Williams. Remarkably, the previous record had been at 1.92 seconds, meaning Red Bull’s crew cut just 0.01s off that margin at Silverstone.
Here is a video of the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it stop, courtesy of F1.
Gone in 1️⃣.9️⃣1️⃣ seconds!
A. NEW. WORLD. RECORD!!!
👏👏👏 @redbullracing#BritishGP 🇬🇧 #F1 @DHL_Motorsports pic.twitter.com/5n1dliB0TX
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 15, 2019
Red Bull’s pit crew showed its speed at another stop on Sunday. When Max Verstappen pitted at the same time as Charles Leclerc, the mechanics were able to make his tyre stop so quickly that the Dutchman emerged wheel-to-wheel with the Ferrari driver. Verstappen was able to exit the pits first, meaning he had gained a position.