2025 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[Badger]

One would hope that after 10 years of these PU regulations and with only 2 races to go that all PU manufacturers have sufficient test-bench to real-world fault & fatigue correlation that they can predicablity run their units in a higher output state with tolerable risk levels.

I was reading Racefans.net transcript of Norris & Verstappens race communications and was wondering if GP told Max to turn down the engine on lap 47. From what I understand the regulations do allow for engines to be turned down, but not turned back up. But I don't know if the mentioned mode is just a ERS adjustment. Anyone who's into Red Bulls terminology?
https://www.racefans.net/2025/11/25/hes ... erstappen/

"Mode" for RB refers to ERS deployment. From what I understand this is what they mean from their most commonly used modes. There are more of them, but they're rarely used.

Mode 7 - A race recovery mode. Often used after deploying extra energy for an overtake to top up the state of charge back to normal.

Mode 6 - The optimal steady state race mode. The mode they will run the most.

Mode 5 - Slightly enhanced deployment for a few laps, often used towards the end of races or when doing a few continuous push laps.

Mode 1 - Quali ERS.

Recharge - Basically on in laps, out laps, and SC periods for rapid recharging.

They also have "Strat" which is another engine setting, I am not sure exactly what that one does, it's not as intuitive to understand.

[Henk_v]

I allways thought strat was about deployment

[Badger]

I allways thought strat was about deployment

It could be. I'm fairly sure "Mode" is what determines the net deployment across a lap. "Strat" may determine where on the lap you deploy.

[venkyhere]

I allways thought strat was about deployment

It could be. I'm fairly sure "Mode" is what determines the net deployment across a lap. "Strat" may determine where on the lap you deploy.

'where on the lap' => GPS co-ordinates are woven into the control unit that sends voltage/current to the MGU-K ?
Then what about the 'overtake' button that they press ? what does it do, if it's not a manual 'where on the lap to deploy' ?

[Badger]

I allways thought strat was about deployment

It could be. I'm fairly sure "Mode" is what determines the net deployment across a lap. "Strat" may determine where on the lap you deploy.

'where on the lap' => GPS co-ordinates are woven into the control unit that sends voltage/current to the MGU-K ?
Then what about the 'overtake' button that they press ? what does it do, if it's not a manual 'where on the lap to deploy' ?

I mean it's pretty clear they have preset deployment strategies that will change how the energy is deployed over the lap depending on what is optimal. Say you have a faster driver right on your rear, you may want to save most of your deployment for the straights then, whereas in normal conditions it would be optimal to deploy it more evenly across the lap. Teams can certainly do that with different deployment strategies. I would assume it's controlled through GPS but I don't know.

As for the overtake button it's merely an override that enables the driver to control the deployment briefly regardless of what the strategy is saying.

[AR3-GP]

They do strat changes in the pitlane during the race,but not permitted once you leave the pitlane iirc. Yuki messed this up in Zandvoort which is why he didn't have the right pedal mapping after the stop and was told he would have to drive with the "issue". So I think strat is related to the ICE.

However I often hear "engine 11 when you can, not urgent". I don't know what that means. So there are not only "Strat", and "mode" settings but also "engine" settings.

There are two hybrid systems (MGU-H and MGU-K) so it's possible that explains the different messages.

[Badger]

They do strat changes in the pitlane during the race,but not permitted once you leave the pitlane iirc. Yuki messed this up in Zandvoort which is why he didn't have the right pedal mapping after the stop and was told he would have to drive with the "issue". So I think strat is related to the ICE.

However I often hear "engine 11 when you can, not urgent". I don't know what that means. So there are not only "Strat", and "mode" settings but also "engine" settings.

There are two hybrid systems (MGU-H and MGU-K) so it's possible that explains the different messages.

They can do strat changes whenever, you can see it in the transcript on lap 9, it's just that they always give a certain strat instruction in the pit lane. "Strat 12" IIRC.

[AR3-GP]

They do strat changes in the pitlane during the race,but not permitted once you leave the pitlane iirc. Yuki messed this up in Zandvoort which is why he didn't have the right pedal mapping after the stop and was told he would have to drive with the "issue". So I think strat is related to the ICE.

However I often hear "engine 11 when you can, not urgent". I don't know what that means. So there are not only "Strat", and "mode" settings but also "engine" settings.

There are two hybrid systems (MGU-H and MGU-K) so it's possible that explains the different messages.

They can do strat changes whenever, you can see it in the transcript on lap 9, it's just that they always give a certain strat instruction in the pit lane. "Strat 12" IIRC.

Okay, then it looks like some strat modes change a setting which can only be changed in the pitlane, but not all strat modes.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/biza ... /10755512/

But in 2020 the FIA clamped down on these ‘party modes’, as Mercedes once cheekily dubbed them. Since then, only one engine mode has been permitted from qualifying to the end of the race. Drivers may only change it in three cases: when the car is stationary with the engine off, in an officially wet race, or in the pitlane.

Because a different mapping matters more from a standstill than in race trim, drivers routinely switch to ‘launch mode’ as they enter the pitlane, then return to standard mode after their pitstops.

That is when things went wrong for Tsunoda. “It'll be strat 12 in the pitlane, strat 12,” race engineer Richard Wood reminded him on pit entry. And after the stop: “Strat 11, strat 11.” But Tsunoda apparently failed to execute the switch immediately.

“Okay, so we are stuck in the pedal map,” he was told. “It's a very flat pedal up between 15% and 40%.” In other words, throttle response between 15 and 40 percent pedal travel was now completely different – optimized for a launch, not for sustained racing.

[f1isgood]

Watching Max in these high-speed corners is going to be glorious IF Red Bull get their setup correct.

[Juzh]

However I often hear "engine 11 when you can, not urgent". I don't know what that means. So there are not only "Strat", and "mode" settings but also "engine" settings.

There's more to the "engine" setting. There's always an additional parameter that goes with it. These two messages where communicated to Perez in Bahrain 24 in a span of 5 minutes:
"Engine 9, position 2. Engine 9, position 2"
"Engine 11, position 1. Engine 11, position 1"

"Strat 3. Strat 3. More energy." this was a message to Perez in Bahrain 24. So strat has something to do with energy harvesting.

There's also a "display" setting. Perez was told to switch to "display 8" when he was experiencing a faster than normal upshifts in Bahrain 23.

[Juzh]

I allways thought strat was about deployment

It could be. I'm fairly sure "Mode" is what determines the net deployment across a lap. "Strat" may determine where on the lap you deploy.

'where on the lap' => GPS co-ordinates are woven into the control unit that sends voltage/current to the MGU-K ?
Then what about the 'overtake' button that they press ? what does it do, if it's not a manual 'where on the lap to deploy' ?

Yelistener believes GPS to locate a car's position is forbidden for purposes of mgu-k deployment strategies:

[Vettel165]

Still we need a big miracle. It happened in 2007, 2010. We need a lot of luck as being 24 points down is a lot, thats one full race with only 58 points remaining. But I will believe until the end, whatever happens team and Max did its job, they have shown their fighting spirit. What a team.

[euv2]

One practice session to set up the car for sprint scares me, Red Bull better not fumble the setup. Qatar should be a relatively straight forward setup, I'd rather Max lose on pure car pace rather than having weekends like Sao Paolo and Mexico.

[ME4ME]

I'm not a fan of these comparisons with 2007 and 2010. They imply that if Kimi and Seb could do it, so can Verstappen.
But it's not in his control at all. Verstappen can do his part and win everything, yes. But what's crucial is any chance of a set-back for Norris, and on that front, times have changed. He isn't going to get stuck behind a back-marker. He'll blast past any roadblock using DRS. Also the frequency of mechanical retirements have reduced massivly. Pit stops are more consistent. It's still sport so things can happen, by it's much less likely for a shock shakeup to happen imo.

But it sure would be nice

[tinuva]

Chances are good Lando will win, but the excitement is still there because there is a chance max can win. It's about that chance, small or not. Not about a guarantee that max will win. If it was guaranteed, it would be less exciting.

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