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 Vitantonio 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. Coulthard 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. Coulthard and Klien remain with the team in 2006 with Robert Doornbos taking the test role.