What is the Red Bull Air Race? It’s time the UK started paying attention - as I found out

A weekend in Cannes went from a G-Flight experience to becoming emotionally invested in a sport I'd never heard of. It's time to give the Red Bull Air Race the credit it deserves

After stepping off the plane in sunny Nice, ready to hail a taxi to my hotel the day before the second of the eight races in an intense Red Bull Air Race Championships in Cannes, it dawned on me: I have no idea what the competition is all about. I don't know the rules, I don't know what type of planes they fly in, I knew nothing. I had never heard of it before venturing out to the south of France. In reality, I was there to enjoy what the upmarket city had to offer and have my own G-Flight experience. I didn't even know what the 'G' meant.

When I left on the Sunday evening after an intense weekend of racing, filled with one of the most exciting qualifying sessions in the history of the sport, I knew everything that there was to know. The Air Race needs to be embraced.

The sport is unlike many others, no one is too big to help out, not even the pilots. A simple hangar walk checking out each team, all lined up next to one another will tell you that. As I walked over to pilot Ben Murphy to catch a five-minute conversation, a rookie in the Master Class despite his 16-years in the air force and position as team leader of the Red Arrows, it's plain to see how much the step-up means to him, he realises media are walking around, going to talk to him and watch his every move but what is he doing as I approach? Cleaning any leftover marks on his plane from Friday's practice sessions (he has a team full of people who can do this for him). "The team have invited 50-family and friends to Cannes to enjoy the race and the weekend, so as well as for pictures from all you guys, I want it to look good for the people who have gone out of their way," Ben tells me.

As we begin our interview, I get the sense he's excited. Despite a couple of issues in practice the day before, he's relaxed and enjoying the weekend. He knows that in his first season, there are no expectations. There is a rope separating Ben's Blades racing team and everyone else, no one is supposed to enter. As soon as I approached him and he finally put down his cleaning cloth, the first thing he did was invite me in and show me around, even telling me why each bit of kit on the plane was just as important as the other, why even stickers on the plane itself can affect how the plane itself will perform due to the weight.

The second Red Bull Air Race event took place in the picturesque Cannes (Red Bull)

That relaxed attitude showed, when I asked him what would mark a good season, instructions from his team director were clear.

"Our director laid out the expectation that we would be 14th out of 14th because it's our first season as a rookie, why would you expect anything more than that? Especially as we have a new airplane that we don't know yet. I think after Abu Dhabi, finishing sixth, we've certainly got a competitive airplane, I think the best we can hope for is the middle of the pack by the end of the year but we're competitive and want to do the best we can but at the same time we have to respect it's our first year.

"We'll become more successful in the future by establishing a baseline to work from. If we keep trying to do too many different things we'll get to the end of the year with no idea, that for me as the pilot and the guy running the team is where I want to guide the team. Follow a path so that it means something in the long run.”

As far as venues go, you won't see many better than in Cannes - in any sport. Situated right along the coast, spectators were able to have the best seat in the house simply by laying on the beach. In truth, you couldn't really miss it no matter where you were in the city, all you had to do was look up.

"It's a fantastic place - as a venue, any place where you can put the track right in front of the crowd is brilliant. I think it's going to be awesome for the fans. It's a good track for us, obviously, the first time putting a race on in a country you've never been to before logistically there's always a whole bunch of things to sort out. The really good thing is it seems to be working super smoothly at the moment. It should be a good weekend."

Unfortunately for Ben, issues repeated themselves on the day of qualifying and mistakes from him meant he would go into race day dead last - 14th place.

British pilot Ben Murphy suffered a disappointing qualifying (Red Bull)

“Not quite the end to the day we wanted. In the VTM [Vertical Turning Manouevre] on the first lap I was pulling up over the top and my display failed and blinked on and off – it shouldn’t have distracted me, but it did for a split second before I discounted it, but by that point, I was just too high for the next gate. I was pulling down towards it and it looked all wrong so I pulled off and flew over it. So I had the thought process of either continuing with the lap because it’s good practice or pull out of the track and start my second run. I elected to stay in the track even though we knew it wouldn’t count. But I got an over-G [a penalty for exceeding 10G acceleration for more than 0.6s] at the end of it and didn’t get that second run. Obviously, we’re not in the place we want to be, but we’ve got a tough challenge tomorrow and anything can happen.”

But what does finishing in last during qualifying actually mean? Again, I had absolutely no idea. It was bad, of course, no one wants to finish in last place but what were the consequences?

"It's a timed run and the way they do it is all 14 pilots will fly two-timed runs in qualifying, the two fastest of those will then set the order for the round of eight, each pilot is paired off. The winner of each of those goes through to the round of eight, there's seven pairs so the fastest loser goes through," Ben explained to a version of me that found myself trying my best to keep up.

"Then it keeps whittling down, round of eight, final four, then it's a dead run out from the fastest of those four."

Ben would be forced to race Michael Goulian, the American who finished top of the standings – a punishment for his performance in qualifying.

"The big difference for our sport compared to Formula One is, we're flying, trying to put all 14 airplanes on the track at the same time just doesn't work for safety reasons - that's the big difference really. Unlike F1 where you can spin a car off the track at 180mph and everything's fine, here it doesn't work."

The Air Race ventured to Cannes for the first time (Red Bull)

Watching on, whether it's qualifying or racing, you find yourself exhilarated by the action. It's an extremely technical track and each move counts, how you approach every gate, the timing of your manoeuvres and ultimately, what isn't in your control. "The interesting thing is the conditions can change, the wind can change, it's quite a flexible track," Murphy mentioned.

When it came to race day, facing the pilot who was favourite to win was never going to be an easy task and Goulian sailed through to the next round, meaning the former Challenger's race weekend was over - but despite disappointment, it wasn't without its merit.

“After the dream run of Abu Dhabi, this has been a little more difficult. We had issues with the airplane to work out, which are challenging even though you try not to let it affect you. After the penalty in qualifying, it was always going to be a really tough battle against Mike, and all I wanted to prove was that we could put [qualifying] behind us and make a nice clean run, which we did.

"So actually I’m quite happy with the result, it’s a good end to the weekend given where we were yesterday. The biggest takeaway for us now is how well the team works. We had some problems and the team came together exceptionally well. Both Abu Dhabi and Cannes have been amazing venues, and we couldn’t have hoped for better conditions here in France, with the Croisette full of thousands of people enjoying the race.”

As he told me just the day before, the season isn't about him coming first, nor about him placing anywhere across the board, it's about learning and establishing a base for the future, with a team he trusts.

"My 16-years in the air force was entirely spent with a team working around you, this is exactly the same. The team work exceptionally well, all the pressure is taken off me to concentrate. That's the prime indicator that it is all working. The team dynamic is so important. We were lucky that our first race in Abu Dhabi just all meshed together and worked."

They weren't as lucky in the second run, but eighth on the overall leaderboard with six more races to go will be far more than the Blades team could have hoped for, and their journey in the championship is far from over.