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RED BULL HAD A HISTORICALLY DOMINANT SEASON IN 2022, BUT SANCTIONS (AND SOME IMPROVING FOES) HAVE THE RACING WORLD WONDERING: Can the fastest team in F1 be caught?

- MADELINE COLEMAN

A still white frost and gentle fog settled on Milton Keynes one Saturday in December silencing the bustling English town and sharply contrasting  the events of the day before. Tucked in Buckingham shire just north of London, the vibrant community is known for its concrete cow sculptures, vast greenery and sometimes chaotic roundabouts. Some are the one-lane format that Americans are used to, while others are multilaned with cars zipping in and out at speeds that would shock a visitor.

Especially if the cars are the RB7, the model that won the Formula One drivers' and constructors' championships for Red Bull in 2011.

That chilly morning, Midsummer Boulevard, located in the heart of Red Bull Racing's home city, was shut down to celebrate the team's 2022 titles. Thousands of fans gathered to watch drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez fly down the street and through a roundabout. One person's reaction captured why fans squished together on the street and rubbed their hands together to find some semblance of warmth.

Geri Halliwell-Horner, perhaps more famously known as Ginger Spice and the wife of team principal Christian Horner, slid into Pérez's car. "A bit lower, darling," he told her when she tried to sit like one would drive an average car. Practically lying down, she looked at Horner, the excitement evident. "What's the speed?" she asked, to which he responded, "250 miles an hour." "Two hundred and fifty miles an hour! You are a gladiator.

Oh my God," Halliwell-Horner gasped, echoing what many spectators likely think as they see an F1 car zoom past. But what is dangerous to her is business as usual for an F1 driver.

While combating heat, g-forces and dehydration, athletes also have to remember various strategies and code words. All for a chance to be sprayed with champagne on the podium.