2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[AR3-GP]

They said on the broadcast that rival teams say only Verstappen has impressed in the Red Bull.

[Rikhart]

They said on the broadcast that rival teams say only Verstappen has impressed in the Red Bull.

What else is new, apart from Verstappen, Red Bull has been like a midfield team the past couple of years.

[organic]

At least the car has some nice details now

[Paa]

Which is ironic as Hadjar was the only one within the Red Bull team who were truly enthusiastic ("I'm going to win races in this Red Bull this year." - or smthg like that)

[Vettel165]

Which is ironic as Hadjar was the only one within the Red Bull team who were truly enthusiastic ("I'm going to win races in this Red Bull this year." - or smthg like that)

Maybe he will, its early days.

[venkyhere]

Did Hadjar do any long runs today ? whenever I kept popping in to see the lapcharts, he was always in the pits, and LeClerc & Antonelli doing long runs.

[euv2]

Did Hadjar do any long runs today ? whenever I kept popping in to see the lapcharts, he was always in the pits, and LeClerc & Antonelli doing long runs.

Nope, lots of small stints of 6-7 laps, didn't attempt any qualy run either. Lots of testing of parts and setup I guess, few runs with flow viz too.

[lio007]

Hm...Max barely hitting 300 kph in his runs.

[venkyhere]

Spent 20-30 mins closely following the timing page. Seems like Russel is having a superb race-stint on C3 while Verstappen is having a terrible one on C3.
They have changed the car setup or something. It isn't the same as it was yesterday. Super inconsistent and with atleast 1.5s of added laptime.

[Aesop]

Spent 20-30 mins closely following the timing page. Seems like Russel is having a superb race-stint on C3 while Verstappen is having a terrible one on C3.
They have changed the car setup or something. It isn't the same as it was yesterday. Super inconsistent and with atleast 1.5s of added laptime.

I doubt Max is doing a proper racestint

[Juzh]

S2 is still way off and it's not getting any better. Fundamental lack of load?

[Paa]

S2 is still way off and it's not getting any better. Fundamental lack of load?

My impression is that the focus for RB22 was to have the least drag. I think they made most design decisions prioritizing having a slippery car, which is kind of logical given the energy hungry ruleset.
But probably now they are surprised that other teams can have similar straight line performance, while being considerably more competitive in the twisty part.

Maybe Red Bull will have slight speed advantage, but now it looks like the trade off is too big, they are not at the optimal point.

It is also possible that their engine is indeed slightly worse than for the others and only their low drag makes it look like it is almost on par with the Merc/Ferrari.

And don't forget that at least part of their S2 performance probably comes from some extra weight.

[f1isgood]

It's looking to be Renault era Red Bull of 2017 with better reliability. But actual outcomes maybe worse because McLaren are now serious.

[Badger]

It's looking to be Renault era Red Bull of 2017 with better reliability. But actual outcomes maybe worse because McLaren are now serious.

Bad comparison. Renault era was lacking power and not having any control over it. This is just them lacking load and probably being a bit heavier than the top cars. All things they can fix if they do a good job. There's no power difference to the Ferrari in the telemetry, nor the Merc for that matter (though everyone seems to assume they are sanbagging).

[Valeo]

So much doom.
Has Max even touched the C4?
I have only seen him with the Test tyre and he posted the same lap time as Russell 20 minutes later.
More than 160 laps by RB btw.
Amazing work by RBPT.