The 2004 season marked the end of an era with Ford announcing in September that the car-maker would cease all Formula One activities. Austrian energy drink Red Bull purchased the Jaguar Racing team as well as the Milton Keynes factory.

The team quickly brought in a new management structure with Christian Horner taking over as Sporting Director with former Jaguar employee Günther Steiner returning on the design side of the company.

On the driving front the team recruited veteran David Coulthard and signed 'identical' contracts with both Christian Klien and Tonio Liuzzi. The RB1 chassis was effectively Jaguar Racing's 2005 design but with the addition of Mark Smith to the technical team, Red Bull Cosworth was one of the surprised of the season.

Coulthard got his season off to a solid start as he claimed fourth position in Melbourne and followed this up with another five finishes in the points in the first half of the season. The team would end up with an impressive tally of 24 points firmly placing Red Bull Cosworth ahead of Sauber, Jordan and Minardi.

Klien competed in all but four races in 2005 scoring nine points in what was a solid second season in the sport for the Austrian driver. Liuzzi meanwhile competed in the remaining four rounds scoring his sole points at the San Marino Grand Prix.

Off track, Red Bull announced at San Marino that they will be running Ferrari V8 power in 2006 while at the end of the season the team confirmed that Adrian Newey is to join the team from McLaren. Steiner left the F1 programme to join Red Bull's new NASCAR programme in the US. Coulthard and Klien remained with the team in 2006 with Robert Doornbos taking the test role. It all seemed so promising.

2006 was however a big step backwards for Red Bull Ferrari. The engine was fine but the RB2 chassis did not seem to the step forward the team had hoped for. As the season continued, the team opted to halt development of the chassis and focus on the first 'proper' Newey design, the 2007 RB3.

On track the results were disappointing. With just one point on the board, Monaco would bring a six point haul for Coulthard as he put in a strong drive to third position, but just three more points paying positions would follow over the remainder of the season.

Christian Klien scored just two points in the sister machine and fell out with the Red Bull management over plans to move the Austrian racer to the Champ Car World Series in 2007. Klien was dropped from the team and replaced for the final three events by Robert Doornbos but by then the team had slipped back and Doornbos was unable to finish better than 12th.

16 points from 18 races gave Red Bull Ferrari seventh position in the championship standings. Red Bull had hired a lot of very talented engineering staff and a huge step in the performance was expected for 2007.

With Mark Webber joining Coulthard on the driving front and a move from Ferrari to Renault power, all the ingredients were in place for a strong season. However, ongoing hydraulic issues plagued the team throughout the season with Webber and Coulthard retiring no less than 14 times between them.

The RB3 proved pretty rapid when it was running with Webber finishing on the podium at the European Grand Prix. The team would end the season with 24 points and fifth in the championship, but much more had been expected from the Newey-led package.

Continuity is the key for the 2008 season, but with the new regulations specifying a gearbox must last for four events, the pressure really on the team to sort out its reliability issues. The recruitment of former Honda technical director Geoff Willis can only help the team as they look to become a force in the sport.