Oracle Red Bull Racing has taken Formula One underground, putting its double-title-winning RB8 on the tracks of Madrid’s Metro in a stunt celebrating the Spanish Grand Prix’s return to the city after 45 years.
The unlikely mash-up saw the F1 car transformed into a train and sent roaring through a closed section of Madrid’s underground rail network, with the engineering feat captured in a new short film.
While Red Bull has previously taken its F1 machinery everywhere from the Himalayas to the shores of the Dead Sea, underground Metro tunnels presented a new challenge.
Turning an F1 car into a train had never been attempted before, prompting the Oracle Red Bull Racing Heritage Team to team up with Spanish engineering and creative collective Andtonic for the ambitious project.
Work began at the Canillejas workshops, where bespoke metal wheels were designed and manufactured in record time.
Weighing 29.8kg each – around twice the weight of a standard F1 wheel – the custom wheels allowed the RB8 to run directly on the Madrid Metro tracks.
Former F1 driver Patrick Friesacher then took to the cockpit, driving the steel-wheeled RB8 through the closed Metro network and past Estadio Metropolitano station, as well as the Sacedal and Chamartín depots.
“It was an unbelievable experience,” Friesacher said. “I’ve been lucky enough to experience a lot with our Heritage team, but driving an F1 car on railway tracks was surreal. It’s very cool to add Metro driver to the resume.”
The stunt forms part of Red Bull’s partnership with MadRing and Metro de Madrid, ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix returning to Madrid for the first time since 1981.
