2025 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[DDopey]

So what were the changes that Max wanted to make vs the setup direction some of the team wanted. This quite confusing.

[ispano6]

This kind of insight to how a driver works with the team is rare.

Verstappen’s set-up choices key to Monza pole?
Beyond the lessons from Zandvoort, there has been another key factor in Monza: Verstappen himself pushed through on the final set-up choices ahead of qualifying. It’s exactly what his radio message after qualifying – “It worked! Relax there, it’s all good” – referred to.

“Before qualifying, some people within the team wanted to try something else with the set-up, but I said: ‘No, we shouldn’t do that.’” Verstappen said. “When I walked back to my room, I could still see some faces and a few people doubting that set-up direction. But I just felt, ‘this is what we need to do,’ and luckily it worked out.”

When pointed out that the final call was more his than the team’s, Verstappen elaborated in the Dutch media session: “Well, in the end you make these decisions with multiple people, also with GP [Gianpiero Lambiase] and some other people around me.

“Of course, I also understand why certain questions were asked and why some people might have preferred a different direction. But in the end, I’m the one sitting in the car and feeling certain things. I felt that we had to make just a few small changes and that it would be better then.”

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/the-s ... /10757266/

Probably should listen to Yuki more too. Makes me wonder if Mekies has had an influence in letting the track-side team make the call over the driver-in-the-loop team. Max is saving Wache's job.

[venkyhere]

Let's wait and see the race pace and tyre life, before drawing conclusions about the 'setup direction' changes. We in f1technical shouldn't be as fickle as the 'f1 media' or the tons of social media channels, who are interested only in 'stories' rather than facts.

[Sieper]

I think more wing is better for race pace. But with it Max wouldn’t have been on pole.

[CjC]

This kind of insight to how a driver works with the team is rare.

Verstappen’s set-up choices key to Monza pole?
Beyond the lessons from Zandvoort, there has been another key factor in Monza: Verstappen himself pushed through on the final set-up choices ahead of qualifying. It’s exactly what his radio message after qualifying – “It worked! Relax there, it’s all good” – referred to.

“Before qualifying, some people within the team wanted to try something else with the set-up, but I said: ‘No, we shouldn’t do that.’” Verstappen said. “When I walked back to my room, I could still see some faces and a few people doubting that set-up direction. But I just felt, ‘this is what we need to do,’ and luckily it worked out.”

When pointed out that the final call was more his than the team’s, Verstappen elaborated in the Dutch media session: “Well, in the end you make these decisions with multiple people, also with GP [Gianpiero Lambiase] and some other people around me.

“Of course, I also understand why certain questions were asked and why some people might have preferred a different direction. But in the end, I’m the one sitting in the car and feeling certain things. I felt that we had to make just a few small changes and that it would be better then.”

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/the-s ... /10757266/

Came here to post something else but read this so I’ll comment on this instead.

Total respect to Verstappen for this. Can’t believe it’s taken this long for Verstappen to metaphorically get the team by the scruff of their neck and tell them he’s the guy driving the car and this is what he wants. When the engineering is struggling a little they have to use the talent that is Max Verstappen.

[venkyhere]

I think more wing is better for race pace. But with it Max wouldn’t have been on pole.

Bingo. With heavy fuel and 'averaged out' battery levels, braking into a corner and acceleration out of a corner will happen further away from the corner apex. Which means downforce becomes key. That's why we shouldn't keep the Friday long run pace as reference, because the downforce and balance has changed from Friday. Not being F1 engineers, we can only conjecture whether the race pace (averaged over a tyre stint where tyres go through deg/graining) becomes better or worse.

[Jurgen von Diaz]

Which rear wing Yuki used?

[venkyhere]

Did anyone notice the 'scissor cut' version of the lowDF wing ? ultra low DF (I still think it's more loaded than the Ferrari RW). Redbull can't keep their scissors away from rear wings
The pole can only mean two things - the new floor is actually working as a real upgrade, and SuperMax the driver always can be trusted to optimize the performance from the car. It was obvious that they were sacrificing S2 to gain in S1 and S3. And they did. Hope tyres stay alive in the race (1M and 2H, so maybe a 2-stop is planned, or maybe keeping 2H is a decoy to others and it's always been a 1-stop in plan). Excited for tomorrow.

Curiosity got the better of me and I tried to see whether the last minute change from FP3->Q (chopping on rear wing) did any serious damage to performance in the corners - lesmo1, lesmo2, ascari chicane & parabolica. What I find from the data, is that the performance in corners improved. Yes, don't know whether it's through corner balance that improved or some Max magic that happened, but this was against my expectations.

Check out (open in separate tab) the below pic (we can see overall engine mode change from FP2->FP3->Q3 anyway, but that wasn't the focus of what I wanted to check, I wanted to check the corners where engine mode difference doesn't play much of a role) :



I don't know what this means w.r.t race pace shown on Friday, but I would like to think it wouldn't change much.

[bluechris]

Did anyone notice the 'scissor cut' version of the lowDF wing ? ultra low DF (I still think it's more loaded than the Ferrari RW). Redbull can't keep their scissors away from rear wings
The pole can only mean two things - the new floor is actually working as a real upgrade, and SuperMax the driver always can be trusted to optimize the performance from the car. It was obvious that they were sacrificing S2 to gain in S1 and S3. And they did. Hope tyres stay alive in the race (1M and 2H, so maybe a 2-stop is planned, or maybe keeping 2H is a decoy to others and it's always been a 1-stop in plan). Excited for tomorrow.

Curiosity got the better of me and I tried to see whether the last minute change from FP3->Q (chopping on rear wing) did any serious damage to performance in the corners - lesmo1, lesmo2, ascari chicane & parabolica. What I find from the data, is that the performance in corners improved. Yes, don't know whether it's through corner balance that improved or some Max magic that happened, but this was against my expectations.

Check out (open in separate tab) the below pic (we can see overall engine mode change from FP2->FP3->Q3 anyway, but that wasn't the focus of what I wanted to check, I wanted to check the corners where engine mode difference doesn't play much of a role) :

https://i.ibb.co/ZRSkFwBc/monza-2025-RB21-progress.png

I don't know what this means w.r.t race pace shown on Friday, but I would like to think it wouldn't change much.

What we don't know always from this data is how much the car is driftng and sliding during cornering which is something only Max and the team knows. If this is the case then the degradation is higher in the tyres and this is a key element for a stint.
Either way i am positive because even if one or two McLaren pass him in the start, he will eat them after because of lower drag and downforce. That my thought at least.

[f1isgood]

Isn't this Red Bull's first pole at Monza this regulation cycle?

[Vettel165]

[Sergej]

Isn't this Red Bull's first pole at Monza this regulation cycle?

yes


let's hope for a good race

[pantherxxx]

Race pace is excellent so far.

[Sergej]

Man Max has pace

[f1isgood]

First time all year we pass a Orange car on track on merit?