2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[SoulPancake13]

This race sim is pretty slow from Red Bull. Need to check telemetry to see if the engine is turned down otherwise they are a bit off McLaren right now

[Valeo]

I mean after pre season last year RBR was rated 4th by many also, didn´t work out too bad during the beginning of 2025 although Mclaren was clearly faster of course.
Let´s see what´s Max has to say later.
It´ll be a development "war" this year.

[Wouter]

This race sim is pretty slow from Red Bull. Need to check telemetry to see if the engine is turned down otherwise they are a bit off McLaren right now

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Yes, according to James Vowles on F1 TV is the RBPT/Ford engine turned down and not a little bit: "quite a bit"!

[kediown]

I hope that last start was Max's mistake and not engine & software related

[Badger]

Still lacking a bit in the middle sector. Could be downforce, could be weight, or likely a bit of both. Either way, the race pace was good but not better than McLaren by a couple of tenths, it's a solid starting point but they need to add performance.

[Wouter]

I hope that last start was Max's mistake and not engine & software related

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That was no mistke. De both Ferrari PU's, Lewis and Ocon, were quicker because they have a smaller turbo.

[kediown]

I hope that last start was Max's mistake and not engine & software related

.
That was no mistke. De both Ferrari PU's, Lewis and Ocon, were quicker because they have a smaller turbo.

Kimi with Merc PU overtook him at the start too

[Vettel165]

This race sim is pretty slow from Red Bull. Need to check telemetry to see if the engine is turned down otherwise they are a bit off McLaren right now

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Yes, according to James Vowles on F1 TV is the RBPT/Ford engine turned down and not a little bit: "quite a bit"!

Indeed.

[AR3-GP]

Still lacking a bit in the middle sector. Could be downforce, could be weight, or likely a bit of both. Either way, the race pace was good but not better than McLaren by a couple of tenths, it's a solid starting point but they need to add performance.

We could also assume that Norris will be quicker than Piastri since it looks like tire deg is a bigger factor for everyone...I do think the others are "well ahead" because my ranking only has Mclaren 3rd. The positive is that PU hasn't stopped them from running. There's a lot of work to do before getting competitive. Being slow in S2 in Bahrain is not promising.

[Paa]

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Yes, according to James Vowles on F1 TV is the RBPT/Ford engine turned down and not a little bit: "quite a bit"!

Any other than 'Mercedes' source can confirm that?
Would be nice to have some hope, but I don't think Red Bull is turned down considerably more than any other engine. What would be the point? Also they seemed to struggle in S2 anyway, not in the power sections.

[Vettel165]

Max with amazing 139 laps, what a stint. The engine had zero problems for now, a very good sign.

[Badger]

Still lacking a bit in the middle sector. Could be downforce, could be weight, or likely a bit of both. Either way, the race pace was good but not better than McLaren by a couple of tenths, it's a solid starting point but they need to add performance.

We could also assume that Norris will be quicker than Piastri since it looks like tire deg is a bigger factor for everyone...I do think the others are "well ahead" because my ranking only has Mclaren 3rd. The positive is that PU hasn't stopped them from running. There's a lot of work to do before getting competitive. Being slow in S2 in Bahrain is not promising.

I've seen nothing that makes me doubt McLaren is right up there. They've sandbagged more than the others up until this point, but every time they push the lap times come easy as you saw in the quali sims today.

[AR3-GP]

Still lacking a bit in the middle sector. Could be downforce, could be weight, or likely a bit of both. Either way, the race pace was good but not better than McLaren by a couple of tenths, it's a solid starting point but they need to add performance.

We could also assume that Norris will be quicker than Piastri since it looks like tire deg is a bigger factor for everyone...I do think the others are "well ahead" because my ranking only has Mclaren 3rd. The positive is that PU hasn't stopped them from running. There's a lot of work to do before getting competitive. Being slow in S2 in Bahrain is not promising.

I've seen nothing that makes me doubt McLaren is right up there. They've sandbagged more than the others up until this point, but every time they push the lap times come easy as you saw in the quali sims today.

Then I would put Red Bull 3-4 tenths back without taking into account Merc PU sandbagging. Could easily be 6+ tenths to pole in Melbourne.

[Badger]

We could also assume that Norris will be quicker than Piastri since it looks like tire deg is a bigger factor for everyone...I do think the others are "well ahead" because my ranking only has Mclaren 3rd. The positive is that PU hasn't stopped them from running. There's a lot of work to do before getting competitive. Being slow in S2 in Bahrain is not promising.

I've seen nothing that makes me doubt McLaren is right up there. They've sandbagged more than the others up until this point, but every time they push the lap times come easy as you saw in the quali sims today.

Then I would put Red Bull 3-4 tenths back without taking into account Merc PU sandbagging. Could easily be 6+ tenths to pole in Melbourne.

The average gap today across the race stints was 2 tenths to Piastri, and that was all in the middle sector. I think the car is heavier (middle sector is weight sensitive) and lacking a bit of load.

[kediown]