Red Bull Media blog - signing Ricciardo, and who will fill the Toro Rosso seat

What a few weeks it's been.

Unveiling a new driver for the world's best F1 team is something you need to get right, so the pressure on us here was pretty big. Luckily it went really well, here was our international unveiling video -



It did make me laugh that I got a lot of texts from F1 reporters in the UK - who all had their phones off in the Rush premiere and missed the news! Apparently the Rush to get back to the office after the film was something to see...

There's quite a lot of un-informed opinion flying around about Daniel, which is frustrating to see. People judge his performances based on driving a car that has a fraction of the resources spent on it than say a Lotus or Ferrari. Make no bones about it - Daniel is fast. Very fast. The times in the simulator and the data from testing proves it. And he's only going to get quicker as he gains experience.

Whether or not he can match Vettel is unknown, but don't be surprised to see him on the podium next year - assuming Adrian Newey's brilliant brain can give the team a top car.

As for the vacated Toro Rosso seat Antonio Felix Da Costa is a heavy favourite. I know Antonio pretty well - and I just can't see him not grabbing this opportunity. He's had a tough year in WSR 3.5 - mainly due to technical gremlins, but when he has had a working car he's been on the podium.

Next for us at the Media House? Assuming Toro Rosso take a few weeks to finalise their driver for 2014, I'll be in Turkey for Red Bull Sea to Sky later this month - back to the Hard Enduro!

Article by Josh Bloom

Josh is a producer with Red Bull Media House.  You can follow him on twitter here

Josh also produced the video interviews with the Red Bull F1 team following Ricciardo's signing

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Life inside the Red Bull Media team - Erzerg Rodeo and Pikes Peak draws closer

Life in the Red Bull Media House motorsport team is rarely dull, but the level of activity going on here you would think we are preparing for an invasion....

And in a way we are. Next week 1500 motorbike riders come to Austria to take part in the Erzberg Rodeo, the toughest single day off-road motorbike race in the world.

Not only are the Media House covering it, but also the main event on Sunday will be broadcast live for five hours. Goody!

The amount of prep being done is staggering. Media House don't do things by half measures, but covering a race live that takes place over a mountain is one of the bigger challenges we have every.

Erzberg has to be seen to be believed. It takes place on an active iron mine, and makes you re-consider the definition of the term gnarly. More or less anyone who is anyone in the world of off road enduro biking will be there - Taddy Blazusiak will be leading the charge this year again - he's after a sixth, and what many expect, final title.

Check it out here

You may even see my big face doing some field reporting - I can apologize for any trauma this may cause if that is the case.

In other news we recently helped shoot Sebastien Loeb's final training days in Europe on Mont Ventoux as Pikes Peak gets ever closer- expect to see a video of that next week.

And a big shout to the RB Racing boys in Monte Carlo - best of luck... Personally I would love to see Mark complete a hat-trick of wins there.

Article by Josh Bloom. Josh is a motorsport producer from the Red Bull Media House

Updates on Twitter @Bloomers87

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Life inside the Red Bull Media team - Josh Bloom column

Hi! My name is Josh Bloom, and I'm a motorsport producer from the Red Bull Media House - and this column / occasional spewing of nonsense, is a brief account of what working in motorsport media is like and some of the crazy things we get to do, which amazingly is classified as work.

The Media House motorsport team have a far ranging brief on two and four wheels - F1, Moto GP, WRC, Hard Enduro and a bunch of other special projects we are let loose on from time to time. The last few months have been particularly busy for us. Our big project was to celebrate Mark Webber's 200th GP in Bahrain.

It was lovely to see so many people willing to contribute to the piece, even away from the Red Bull family, such is Mark's popularity. We interviewed the ever charismatic Paul Stoddart, who brilliantly re-told the story of Mark's first race in 2002, and after popping into the see the RB guys, we saw Sir Frank Williams, which was an absolute pleasure. He's very witty and verbose still, and admitted he and Mark rip the piss out of each other all the time, which was lovely to hear!

Sadly the race didn't go quite the way Mark wanted it, but were so pleased for him to join the 200 club. Here's the final edit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk_YGSHcPAk

No rest for the wicked though, we went off to a secret location in France to watch Sebastien Loeb try out his Pikes Peak Peugeot 208 for the first time.

It is an absolute beast.

I can't say too much about it right now, but boy is it quick. With the black carbon fibre body it also looks (and sounds!) like a monster. We picked up some awesome footage too. Look out for that edit in May.

Next for us? We are shooting the Red Bull Junior team soon. Who are they? People you need to watch for the future. Sebastien Vettel, Daniel Riccardio and Jean-Eric Vergne all came through the programme. We are talking some seriously talented young drivers - check them out.

http://www.redbull.com/cs/Satellite/en_INT/Red-Bull-Junior-Team-2013---Home/001243182345888

After that? The Iron Giant - Red Hare Scramble at Erzberg. One of the most anticipated events of the Hard Enduro season.

For updates on motorsport things/ general babblings about other sports, follow me on Twitter @Bloomers87

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