2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[AR3-GP]

[organic]

Maybe the only angle that makes the airbox look small

[euv2]

Mercedes planning to push the engine harder on the final day and do more qualy sims, I wonder if we will see the same from RBR and Max. I think RBR might be slightly behind on their programme given the low running on day 2.

[Wouter]

Red Bull will not be racing in Barcelona today as expected.

After Hadjar's crash, they are still waiting for new/replacement parts from Milton Keynes, which are expected to arrive later today.

The team therefore hopes to still be racing with Verstappen tomorrow. #F1

[Juzh]

To be fair when Honda announced their withdrawal, there was a short period of uncertainty. During that short window, there were indeed some speculations about Honda handing over the IP to Red Bull. So probably this is where all of this is coming from.
However, once things were settled it was made very clear, repeatedly, that no IP was transferred. RBPT is a completely separate project. There were some brain drain of course, but that is happening all the time anyway between teams, it is part of the game.
What I don't get is how this IP-transfer myth refused to die. As if some people were really focused on this during that short window, then somehow ignored years of repetitive clarifications.

Honda and RB official website mentioned about transferring of engine IP after 2022 season to RBPT, and this was a commercial and strategic decision where RB will take over Honda engine operation in UK, while the engine will continue to carry the Honda badge for marketing purpose. Under this agreement, they won both WCC and WDC. So RBPT has been learning how to build engine with support from Honda since 2023. At its core, 2026 is still a 1.6-litre V6 turbo hybrid ICE.

And of course, this Honda/RB agreement has expired in end of 2025, and Honda is not involve in 2026 project because Honda has switched to Aston Martin. This is common sense.

In Formula 1, Red Bull Powertrains will have the right to use Honda IP relating to the Power Unit from 2022. Whilst Honda will support Red Bull Powertrains through the assembly of power units, the provision of trackside engineering support and race operation assistance in 2022, from 2023, RBPT will take responsibility for all manufacturing and servicing of Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri’s engines.

https://www.redbullracing.com/int-en/re ... -beyond-f1

This didn't come to fruition because it was impossible to build honda engine in UK. 90% of the supply chain was in Japan.

[Emag]

Red Bull will not be racing in Barcelona today as expected.

After Hadjar's crash, they are still waiting for new/replacement parts from Milton Keynes, which are expected to arrive later today.

The team therefore hopes to still be racing with Verstappen tomorrow. #F1

There won't be rain tomorrow so its likely Max will get a proper full day of running. Track could be slightly damp in the morning if it rains a bit overnight, but it will probably be cleared out quickly..

[CHT]

To be fair when Honda announced their withdrawal, there was a short period of uncertainty. During that short window, there were indeed some speculations about Honda handing over the IP to Red Bull. So probably this is where all of this is coming from.
However, once things were settled it was made very clear, repeatedly, that no IP was transferred. RBPT is a completely separate project. There were some brain drain of course, but that is happening all the time anyway between teams, it is part of the game.
What I don't get is how this IP-transfer myth refused to die. As if some people were really focused on this during that short window, then somehow ignored years of repetitive clarifications.

Honda and RB official website mentioned about transferring of engine IP after 2022 season to RBPT, and this was a commercial and strategic decision where RB will take over Honda engine operation in UK, while the engine will continue to carry the Honda badge for marketing purpose. Under this agreement, they won both WCC and WDC. So RBPT has been learning how to build engine with support from Honda since 2023. At its core, 2026 is still a 1.6-litre V6 turbo hybrid ICE.

And of course, this Honda/RB agreement has expired in end of 2025, and Honda is not involve in 2026 project because Honda has switched to Aston Martin. This is common sense.

In Formula 1, Red Bull Powertrains will have the right to use Honda IP relating to the Power Unit from 2022. Whilst Honda will support Red Bull Powertrains through the assembly of power units, the provision of trackside engineering support and race operation assistance in 2022, from 2023, RBPT will take responsibility for all manufacturing and servicing of Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri’s engines.

https://www.redbullracing.com/int-en/re ... -beyond-f1

This didn't come to fruition because it was impossible to build honda engine in UK. 90% of the supply chain was in Japan.

didnt know that didnt happen..so 2023 to 2025 honda were producing engine in Japan?

[organic]

Honda and RB official website mentioned about transferring of engine IP after 2022 season to RBPT, and this was a commercial and strategic decision where RB will take over Honda engine operation in UK, while the engine will continue to carry the Honda badge for marketing purpose. Under this agreement, they won both WCC and WDC. So RBPT has been learning how to build engine with support from Honda since 2023. At its core, 2026 is still a 1.6-litre V6 turbo hybrid ICE.

And of course, this Honda/RB agreement has expired in end of 2025, and Honda is not involve in 2026 project because Honda has switched to Aston Martin. This is common sense.

In Formula 1, Red Bull Powertrains will have the right to use Honda IP relating to the Power Unit from 2022. Whilst Honda will support Red Bull Powertrains through the assembly of power units, the provision of trackside engineering support and race operation assistance in 2022, from 2023, RBPT will take responsibility for all manufacturing and servicing of Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri’s engines.

https://www.redbullracing.com/int-en/re ... -beyond-f1

This didn't come to fruition because it was impossible to build honda engine in UK. 90% of the supply chain was in Japan.

didnt know that didnt happen..so 2023 to 2025 honda were producing engine in Japan?

Yup. The supply chain is pretty ridiculous actually.

[AR3-GP]

It is said that spare parts have arrived and Verstappen has returned to Barcelona. So they will be on track tomorrow.

[Sergej]

Interesting

[Cassius]

Another off for a RBPT powered car:

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It is starting to worry me a bit. We have seen many offs for Max, Hadjar, but also Lindblad and Lawson. Reminds me of the instability of the RB15.

Is this due to the driveability of the RBPT? Or are they just testing, experimenting and finding the limits?

[f1isgood]

Interesting

Ultimately how consequential was this? Nice anecdote but I doubt it was a big performance differentiating factor ultimately. This seems like a very normal discussion between colleagues

[euv2]

Tim Gross, VCARB's chief Technical Officer, is very optimistic about RBPT

"To come as a complete newcomer to F1 and on your very first day, to then get nearly 200 laps under your belt, it's easy to take this level of reliability for granted, but it can't be underestimated what they've achieved."

"Drivability is really good. To be honest, the drivability is fantastic."

[pantherxxx]

The car might be hard to drive, but Max can handle it. As long as it's fast it's all good.

[f1isgood]

Tim Gross, VCARB's chief Technical Officer, is very optimistic about RBPT

"To come as a complete newcomer to F1 and on your very first day, to then get nearly 200 laps under your belt, it's easy to take this level of reliability for granted, but it can't be underestimated what they've achieved."

"Drivability is really good. To be honest, the drivability is fantastic."

It was visible with Russell's comments. He was expecting RBPT to have issues (although he didn't spell it out). His interview was interesting from yesterday.