2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[avantman]

So the FIA's ECU bogged down Verstappen’s engine during FP while traffic was zooming by at 150kph and then shunted his power unit into T1 Q3 of the first quali of the season?

Anything is possible these days. Anything literally.

[avantman]

It all sounds like Red Bull have a real shot at fighting for wins at some point this year. Let's hope the GPs in Jeddah and Bahrain get cancelled.

Red Bull has a shot of fighting for wins right now. Probably the best shot Red Bull would get all year as reliability is still the point of concern for everybody including Mercedes. Nobody is safe, at this early stage Mercedes are the most vulnerable also because it’s obvious drivers still make a lot of mistakes (forced by glitches or unforced) and figuring things out.
Look, even today. If Ver not crashed, he would be starting on the first row next to Russell tomorrow, whereas Kimi from the last. One little mistake from Russell which could easily lead to huge costly consequences on such city track like Melbourne , one electrical, or software glitch in the race and it’s already more than real chance to fight for the win.
Nothing suggests other top teams, and more importantly Mercedes will stand still and not upgrade their cars at similar or better rate than Red Bull.

[f1isgood]

It all sounds like Red Bull have a real shot at fighting for wins at some point this year. Let's hope the GPs in Jeddah and Bahrain get cancelled.

Red Bull has a shot of fighting for wins right now. Probably the best shot Red Bull would get all year as reliability is still the point of concern for everybody including Mercedes. Nobody is safe, at this early stage Mercedes are the most vulnerable also because it’s obvious drivers still make a lot of mistakes (forced by glitches or unforced) and figuring things out.
Look, even today. If Ver not crashed, he would be starting on the first row next to Russell tomorrow, whereas Kimi from the last. One little mistake from Russell which could easily lead to huge costly consequences on such city track like Melbourne , one electrical, or software glitch in the race and it’s already more than real chance to fight for the win.
Nothing suggests other top teams, and more importantly Mercedes will stand still and not upgrade their cars at similar or better rate than Red Bull.

That caveat always applies but Red Bull has more CFD and WT runs compared to Mercedes. They simply have to do a better job and they will win.

[Rikhart]

So the FIA's ECU bogged down Verstappen’s engine during FP while traffic was zooming by at 150kph and then shunted his power unit into T1 Q3 of the first quali of the season?

Do you have a link for that, where did you see it?

[Artur Craft]

Mercedes is much faster in all corners

[AR3-GP]

Ralf Bach from f1insider said he's been told Red Bull is 10kg over the minimum weight. Exactly as predicted. "better" than 2022, but nowhere near good enough. 10kg is 3-3.5 tenths.

[pantherxxx]

Actually it's kinda Newey's fault. I mean he was the one pushing to not build the new wind tunnel, because he thought that CFD will replace wind tunnels. If Red Bull would have started building the new wind tunnel few years earlier, the car might have been better on the aero side. But I guess it is what it is.

[vorticism]

So the FIA's ECU bogged down Verstappen’s engine during FP while traffic was zooming by at 150kph and then shunted his power unit into T1 Q3 of the first quali of the season?

Do you have a link for that, where did you see it?

Below. And I wrote Q3 there. Meant Q1.

Wait. The FIA can cut the engine like this? What? That can't be right. This is insane dangerous.

What? Really?

[organic]

Well that's a bit disappointing. But waché's comments combined with the overweight situation, and likely more low hanging fruit than mercedes for development bodes well

[organic]

https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/for ... melbourne/

Wache says the gap to Mercedes can be overcome and repeats the expected deficit of 0,3 Max might have had.
Also says (again) there is more time to find on the chassis side, not engine.

Seems good to be honest. We're probably winning races by race 5-6

[euv2]

I can see MCL gaining on Red Bull if they start utlising the Mercedes PU better in the short term.

Bit worried about Max's start tomorrow, could be carnage in front of him.

[f1isgood]

I can see MCL gaining on Red Bull if they start utlising the Mercedes PU better in the short term.

Bit worried about Max's start tomorrow, could be carnage in front of him.

I think McLaren also have a chassis issue. I think they aimed too low but maybe I am wrong. They did say they have good correlation so they have what they expected I assume. But I agree generally that Red Bull are not clear 2nd but in a cluster with the others.

I hope Max starts from the pitlane really. Like Brazil. Avoid the damage.

[Emag]

I can see MCL gaining on Red Bull if they start utlising the Mercedes PU better in the short term.

Bit worried about Max's start tomorrow, could be carnage in front of him.

I actually think it would be better for him to start from the pitlane. I have a feeling half the cars will get very slowly off the line and it will cause a chain reaction.

[chrisc90]

Thing is with the pitlane you have to wait til the last car has passed the pit exit. If some are awful at getting away, it might be worse to start than a steady start at the back and being cautious

[avantman]

I can see MCL gaining on Red Bull if they start utlising the Mercedes PU better in the short term.

Bit worried about Max's start tomorrow, could be carnage in front of him.

I actually think it would be better for him to start from the pitlane. I have a feeling half the cars will get very slowly off the line and it will cause a chain reaction.

That is quite laphable suggestion really. One must have absolutely no idea on who Max really is (and red bull too by the way), even to assume they might chose to start from pitlane because they are afraid of the carnage at the start or something like that. You might see it as high risk of carnage, they would surely see it as their best opportunity to move forward in order to have a chance fight for meaningful result.
The only possible reason for them to take that option could be their desire to change the setup and/or opportunity to take PU components for free. Never - fear of potential failure or something they cannot control.