Red Bull driver takes an F1 car out for 'fastest commute ever' as it zooms across underground train tracks

In their latest stunt, Red Bull turned an F1 car into an underground train in Madrid, Spain.

It’s incredible to see the extent to which Red Bull will go to put on a show.

What’s crazy is that what you can see here is a video that lasts second.

And yet it took months of preparations.

Why Red Bull turned a Formula 1 car into a metro train

Some people say Red Bull is a marketing company that just so happens to sell energy drinks – which is a fair characterization.

On this occasion, they stripped the racing rubber off an iconic F1 chassis, installed specialized steel railway wheels, and literally turned a Grand Prix machine into a metro train.

The stunt, which took place in Madrid, Spain, centered around the RB8 – the V8-powered single-seater that swept the 2012 Formula 1 World Championship with Sebastian Vettel.

Ahead of the return of Formula 1 to Madrid, Red Bull wanted to do something special, and they decided to turn an F1 car into a metro train.

Because why not.

Running a low-slung, ultra-stiff F1 machine across heavy rail tracks presented massive mechanical hurdles.

And two things in particular required some extra care.

This is how Red Bull did it

There were two major problems.

First, the team had to create specialized ‘wheels’ with special spokes engineered to shed mass while sitting seamlessly inside the railway gauge.

The second problem was calibrating the chassis.

Standard slick tires were removed entirely, but that meant replacing the rubber interface with flanged metal rims capable of gripping the steel rails.

And that had to be done while keeping the car ‘drivable’.

The man behind the wheel is a former F1 driver

The RB8 navigated the subterranean tunnels, depot switches, and station platforms of the Madrid’s rail system with former Formula 1 driver Patrick Friesacher at the helm.

Friesacher originally joined Red Bull in 1994 as their very first Junior Team driver.

However, he was dropped a decade later in 2004 after declining their offer to move to Formula Nippon, preferring instead to hold out for an F1 seat.

His stubbornness paid off.

Just a year later, in 2005, he signed with Minardi and competed in 11 Grand Prix races, scoring three championship points during the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis.

Shortly after his stint with Minardi, Friesacher rejoined Red Bull as their primary demonstration driver.

Today, he holds the title of Red Bull’s longest-serving driver.

As far as job titles go, that’s not a bad one to have.

Some of Red Bull’s craziest stunts over the years

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2008 – Vegas Arch Leap: FMX rider Robbie Maddison jumped his motorcycle 96 feet up onto the Arc de Triomphe replica in Las Vegas, then dropped straight off the edge back to the ground

2012 – Stratos: Felix Baumgartner skydived from the edge of space – 128,000 ft – becoming the first person to break the sound barrier (843mph) in freefall

2013 – Burj Al Arab Helipad: David Coulthard spun high-RPM donuts in an F1 car on a helipad suspended 690 feet in the air above Dubai

2016 – F1 Ski Slope Run: Max Verstappen drove a V8 F1 car equipped with studded snow chains down a snowy ski mountain in Kitzbühel, Austria

2019 – Zero-Gravity Pit Stop: The pit crew boarded a cosmonaut training aircraft and performed a full 4-wheel F1 pit stop in mid-air during zero-gravity weightlessness