---
title: "Watch This Red Bull Racing F1 Car Tackle A Swiss Mountain Pass"
description: "The worst tool for the job, or the best tool?"
date: "2017-11-17"
modified: "2017-11-17"
authors:
  - name: "Kyle Cheromcha"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kyle-cheromcha"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/16213/watch-this-red-bull-racing-f1-car-tackle-a-swiss-mountain-pass"
categories:
  - "News"
  - "Watch This"
tags:
  - "Hillclimb"
  - "rb8"
  - "Red Bull F1"
  - "Sebastien Buemi"
  - "Switzerland"
---

# Watch This Red Bull Racing F1 Car Tackle A Swiss Mountain Pass

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/11/p-20171004-00600_hires_jpeg_24bit_rgb.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Like a ferocious animal raised in captivity, an F1 car is completely unequipped to survive on the less-than-perfect roads of the real world. But fortunately for us, that didn't stop [Red Bull Racing](<https://www.thedrive.com/accelerator/15762/red-bulls-max-verstappen-says-f1-champ-lewis-hamilton-needs-to-step-up-his-game-next-year>) from sending Formula E champion and Scuderia Torro Rosso reserve driver Sébastien Buemi up a twisty, treacherous mountain pass in their F1-championship-winning RB8 car.

Of course, calling it a car is like calling the space shuttle a glider. F1 race cars are purpose-built machines, made specifically for the high-speed demands of a smooth, flowing track. Everything about it—aerodynamics, engine, suspension—is designed to work best at high speed during a race, not an improvised hillclimb on a cobblestone-paved road. [The RB8,](<https://www.thedrive.com/accelerator/9583/watch-a-red-bull-f1-car-race-a-superbike-at-silverstone>) driven to 2012 World Championship title by Sebastian Vettel, hails from the final age of naturally-aspirated V8 engines, in this case a 2.4-liter Renault unit revving to 18,000 RPM.

Having worked as a test driver for Red Bull Racing during that season, Buemi is probably very familiar with the RB8. But chances are he's never driven it on a road like the Tremolastrasse, a 19th century route that snakes up a mountain in southern [Switzerland](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/13538/swiss-hill-climb-organizers-fined-5000-over-richard-hammonds-rimac-crash>) to connect the town of Airolo to the Gotthard Pass. It's 7.9 miles of rough cobblestones heading up to a summit of over 6,000 feet. If the climb wasn't treacherous enough in a rear-wheel-drive race car, the cobblestones are usually slick with melting snow during the summer.

All that combines for one heck of a sketchy climb, but Buemi holds it together as the RB8 skitters and jumps over the massively imperfect road surface. He makes it to the top unscathed, letting that glorious V8 wail as he celebrates with some tasty donuts.

https://youtube.com/embed/Q3pchXcY_GY

## Author
Overseeing an expert staff of writers and editors from his lair in Los Angeles, Kyle shapes The Drive’s singular approach to covering the automotive industry and car culture. He’s been with the site as a writer since 2017, taking over as editor in 2019. On a daily basis, Kyle is responsible for directing The Drive's editorial news and car review content strategies, setting special coverage priorities, managing complex reporting projects, and ensuring what you read on the page meets our high internal standards for quality and trustworthiness. He is also the executive producer of The Drive's YouTube channel, which was relaunched in February 2024 to great acclaim and has accumulated over 14M new views in its first year back on the scene. He hosts a biweekly series on the channel where he breaks down fascinating and complicated stories from the automotive world.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/kylecheromcha.bsky.social>)  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/kylecheromcha>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-cheromcha-1550248a/>)