It’s at once decadent and absurd, both fantastic and strange.
Nonetheless, there is absolutely no denying the mad beauty that is a Formula One racecar, designed for high-speed, outer edge performance on city roads, suited up with tire chains and plowing through the powder on the slopes of a famous European snow sports venue.
Brought to us by none other than the mad extreme sports scientists at Red Bull is this extraordinary winter motorsport.
I mean, they had to chopper the car in, for crying out loud. That alone must have been ridiculously expensive, and all just to run a spectacular show of having an RB7 racer speed around on the snow.
The run was organized a week ahead of the prestigious Hahnenkamm alpine ski race, and required near NASA levels of planning from Red Bull’s demonstration team.
Even though running at an altitude of 5,249 feet and in below freezing temperatures, very the 2011 machine required very little modification. One thing that had to happen was to raise the car’s ride height and fitting it with studded Pirelli tires and snow chains.
It was then left to dazzling Formula One rookie Max Verstappen, 2015’s most impressive newcomer, to dazzle the large crowd of onlookers with a lunatic spin through the snow, full of turns, roars, donuts, and otherwise outlandishly loud displays of promotional bravado ahead of the next season of wonderfully over funded glamour racing in the most exotic of cities across the planet.
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
Formula 1 on Ice
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F1 Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen performs during the F1 Showrun at the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuehel, Austria on January 14, 2015 // Samo Vidic/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20160114-00260 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //
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F1 Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen performs during the F1 Showrun at the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuehel, Austria on January 14, 2016. // Philip Platzer/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20160114-00262 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //
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F1 Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen performs during the F1 Showrun at the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuehel, Austria on January 14, 2015 // Samo Vidic/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20160114-00276 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //
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F1 Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen performs during the F1 Showrun at the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuehel, Austria on January 14, 2016. // Philip Platzer/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20160114-00278 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //
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F1 Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen performs during the F1 Showrun at the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuehel, Austria on January 14, 2015 // Samo Vidic/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20160114-00284 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //
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F1 Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen performs during the F1 Showrun at the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuehel, Austria on January 14, 2016. // Philip Platzer/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20160114-00286 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //
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F1 Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen performs during the F1 Showrun at the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuehel, Austria on January 14, 2016. // Philip Platzer/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20160114-00296 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //
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F1 Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen performs during the F1 Showrun at the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuehel, Austria on January 14, 2016. // Philip Platzer/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20160114-00310 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //
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F1 Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen performs during the F1 Showrun at the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuehel, Austria on January 14, 2016. // Philip Platzer/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20160114-00313 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //
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F1 Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen performs during the F1 Showrun at the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuehel, Austria on January 14, 2016. // Philip Platzer/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20160114-00315 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //
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F1 Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen performs during the F1 Showrun at the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuehel, Austria on January 14, 2016. // Philip Platzer/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20160114-00317 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //
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F1 Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen performs during the F1 Showrun at the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuehel, Austria on January 14, 2015 // Samo Vidic/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20160114-00319 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //
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F1 Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen performs during the F1 Showrun at the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuehel, Austria on January 14, 2016. // Philip Platzer/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20160114-00321 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //
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F1 Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen performs during the F1 Showrun at the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuehel, Austria on January 14, 2015 // Samo Vidic/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20160114-00323 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //
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F1 Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen performs during the F1 Showrun at the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuehel, Austria on January 14, 2015 // Samo Vidic/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20160114-00325 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //
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F1 Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen performs during the F1 Showrun at the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuehel, Austria on January 14, 2016. // Philip Platzer/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20160114-00327 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //
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F1 Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen performs during the F1 Showrun at the Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuehel, Austria on January 14, 2015 // Samo Vidic/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20160114-00329 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //
