2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[venkyhere]

Does it really matter how fast you are cornering since the chance to overtake is very low? So might aswell recharge and use more on the straight?

To be honest, I have no idea. I wouldn't be surprised if the cookie crumbles either way -

overtakings occur mainly in the straights, near braking zone, and not in other places, staying 'conventional' to typical F1 we have seen until now
OR
overtakings are hard in the straights, and occur mainly in hitherto unexpected locations, like traction from slow corners or outflanking in medium speed corners or in braking zones with different lines into U-turns.

[bluechris]

Don't you save the tyres also if you are cool on turns, recharging and go full beans on straights? What's the point of pushing the car in turns?
This is what F1 became in 2026, congratulations to all the minds that had this Eureka moment.

[AR3-GP]

https://racingnews365.nl/einde-nadert-v ... t=14261806
New wind tunnel still on track for late 26 upto early 27.

Waché emphasized the extensive time, effort, and investment that has gone into the new facility. "To reduce the correlation problem in the near future, the team has invested a lot in the new wind tunnel, in order to have the best tunnel in the field," adds the 51-year-old.

Wonder what improvements allow it to be the best WT, compared to relatively new WTs from MCL and Aston Martin.

It is taking longer than planned. Last time it was anticipated in the summer of 2026.

[fourmula1]

Does it really matter how fast you are cornering since the chance to overtake is very low? So might aswell recharge and use more on the straight?

To be honest, I have no idea. I wouldn't be surprised if the cookie crumbles either way -

overtakings occur mainly in the straights, near braking zone, and not in other places, staying 'conventional' to typical F1 we have seen until now
OR
overtakings are hard in the straights, and occur mainly in hitherto unexpected locations, like traction from slow corners or outflanking in medium speed corners or in braking zones with different lines into U-turns.

I could see the good tracks coming to life even more...like COTA back straight braking zone and the low speed section following it. Forget about high speed as usual. Yes braking zones of all types and short shoots coming out of slower corners could very well offer more action. If the tires allow it.

[organic]

https://racingnews365.nl/einde-nadert-v ... t=14261806
New wind tunnel still on track for late 26 upto early 27.

Waché emphasized the extensive time, effort, and investment that has gone into the new facility. "To reduce the correlation problem in the near future, the team has invested a lot in the new wind tunnel, in order to have the best tunnel in the field," adds the 51-year-old.

Wonder what improvements allow it to be the best WT, compared to relatively new WTs from MCL and Aston Martin.

It is taking longer than planned. Last time it was anticipated in the summer of 2026.

I think the timelines hitherto have been the end of construction. You then have to validate and test it before it can then become fully operational, hence the later 'fully operational' date given. I remember McLaren went through this phase where they had each running.

[Badger]

The important part will be that it is online in time to validate the 2027 car, so preferably in the final quarter of 2026. The more mature these regulations become the more important it will be to have a high quality wind model.

[AR3-GP]

The important part will be that it is online in time to validate the 2027 car, so preferably in the final quarter of 2026. The more mature these regulations become the more important it will be to have a high quality wind model.

The 2027 car will be developed after the summer of 2026. So 6 months of potential uncorrelated development.

[f1isgood]

I think its a more fine grained problem for Red Bull. Their wind tunnel becomes weaker and weaker the more the regulations mature. I think the first year they are in an okay situation. They still lose time because even to start it takes an unreasonable amount of time for F1 standards.

I am still wondering if one day we will hear about what they saw with the cooling in the RB20 that they ditched for the 21. I am not sure if some of those ideas have carried over to this car.

[Badger]

The important part will be that it is online in time to validate the 2027 car, so preferably in the final quarter of 2026. The more mature these regulations become the more important it will be to have a high quality wind model.

2027 car will be developed after the summer of 2026 though. So 6 months of potential uncorrelated development.

Correlation isn't black and white. The current wind tunnel has decent correlation, the problem is that once the regulations mature and the model increases in detail the correlation lags behind the top competition. The 2027 car is not going to be entirely developed in the new wind tunnel, but their development could potentially be validated in the new tunnel before production ramps.

It would be nice if the 2027 car is fully adapted to the new tunnel before the season.

[lio007]

We have pictures from the new tunnel that are about 2 months old, there we can see it's still quite a bit of work to do.
I remember last year an interview with Waché where he mentioned they are 3 months ahead, but we don't know based on what. I don't know why it takes them so long since they started in very early 2024.

[AR3-GP]

We have pictures from the new tunnel that are about 2 months old, there we can see it's still quite a bit of work to do.
I remember last year an interview with Waché where he mentioned they are 3 months ahead, but we don't know based on what. I don't know why it takes them so long since they started in very early 2024.

I know it's slightly different, but it's taken less time to build a PU factory from scratch...

[LM10]

It’s perfectly normal that the construction of a wind tunnel takes 2-3 years at least. Less than 2 years would be a record time.

[lio007]

We have pictures from the new tunnel that are about 2 months old, there we can see it's still quite a bit of work to do.
I remember last year an interview with Waché where he mentioned they are 3 months ahead, but we don't know based on what. I don't know why it takes them so long since they started in very early 2024.

I know it's slightly different, but it's taken less time to build a PU factory from scratch...

Highly likely something went wrong, I think even McLaren with their underground location of the tunnel was faster. And Aston was faster as well I think.

[pantherxxx]

Russell believes Red Bull’s biggest edge is how quickly they can find the best settings for energy recovery. He explained that Mercedes was almost on par with them by the end of the Bahrain test, but that was only after six full days of testing. Come Melbourne, with only three practice sessions, if Red Bull will lock in the ideal energy mapping setup much faster, that’s the advantage Russell is most concerned about.

[Seanspeed]

Russell believes Red Bull’s biggest edge is how quickly they can find the best settings for energy recovery. He explained that Mercedes was almost on par with them by the end of the Bahrain test, but that was only after six full days of testing. Come Melbourne, with only three practice sessions, if Red Bull will lock in the ideal energy mapping setup much faster, that’s the advantage Russell is most concerned about.

It's very hard to take anything a Mercedes team member says about power units seriously at the moment, unfortunately.

An interesting claim nonetheless. Dont think I've heard any talk so far about importance of figuring this out so quickly, really. It was my speculation that teams would largely have these things more or less guessed out via sims before they even arrive to a race weekend.