2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[Sergej]

https://x.com/RBRHub/status/2030531123894505625?s=20

Max says he started the race with an empty battery

"It was terrible, I had no battery left at all. Somehow I used up the entire battery during the formation lap. I don't know how it happened, but at the start, my battery was at zero, so there was no power at all. The car is quite good; we know there's potential. We're not bad on the engine side either. Right now, our shortcomings are split down the middle; half from the chassis, half from the engine. It's a surmountable situation, nothing shocking. I'm very negative about the regulations, but I'm proud of my team and the engine crew. They really did a fantastic job.

via:
@KemalSengulll

apparently all the grid started with empty batteries

[avantman]

, did the FIA help them to because of the safety concerns?

[Valeo]

Just watched the race, finished more or less where I expected. Sorry for Hadjar.
The Mercedes and Ferrari engines looked very racey, something the RBPT still lacks? Not a fan of starting races with the hard tyres, cost him a lot vs Norris...

[AR3-GP]

I think Max had issue with overtake mode or boost mode. He and several other drivers reported this.

[venkyhere]

My read is :
- overweight
- lack of competitive downforce (out of the big four, RB22 had the thinnest rear wing mainplane with almost no spoon) - sacrifice to not destroy run from T6 to T9.
- terrible tyre eating (might need that 'diveplane' on the FW endplate afterall, to pull some high energy air around the front tyres)

More importantly :
any update on what exactly the cause for Hadjar's engine to blow up was ? 9 days of whole-day running and the engine decides to blow up after a handful of race laps.

[AR3-GP]

I would hold off on making a judgement until a few more races into the season. Following Max's radio, there were a lot of teething issues that are fixable (brakes, steering, deployment). Mercedes and Ferrari are more "put together" right now. It's not all of the gap, but RBR had some technical issues that the others didn't have today.

[avantman]

I would hold off on making a judgement until a few more races into the season. Following Max's radio, there were a lot of teething issues that are fixable (brakes, steering, deployment). Mercedes and Ferrari are more "put together" right now. It's not all of the gap, but RBR had some technical issues that the others didn't have today.

We will all go through denial-anger-bargaining-depression phases to finally reach acceptance stage by the end of the year.

[AR3-GP]

I would hold off on making a judgement until a few more races into the season. Following Max's radio, there were a lot of teething issues that are fixable (brakes, steering, deployment). Mercedes and Ferrari are more "put together" right now. It's not all of the gap, but RBR had some technical issues that the others didn't have today.

We will all go through denial-anger-bargaining-depression phases to finally reach acceptance stage by the end of the year.

I'm not delusional, promise.

I'm relying heavily on this:

The car is quite good; we know there's potential. We're not bad on the engine side either. Right now, our shortcomings are split down the middle; half from the chassis, half from the engine. It's a surmountable situation, nothing shocking. I'm very negative about the regulations, but I'm proud of my team and the engine crew. They really did a fantastic job.

[avantman]

https://streamain.com/en/ky0IHu4ghYDMS8T/watch
Classic.

[venkyhere]

I would hold off on making a judgement until a few more races into the season. Following Max's radio, there were a lot of teething issues that are fixable (brakes, steering, deployment). Mercedes and Ferrari are more "put together" right now. It's not all of the gap, but RBR had some technical issues that the others didn't have today.

We will all go through denial-anger-bargaining-depression phases to finally reach acceptance stage by the end of the year.

My read (acceptance already set in after Melbourne FP2) is that there is no way RB22 can beat a Mercedes/Ferrari over the entire year (race pace delta is 1s+ and 0.7s+ to them) , unless :
- massive PU update (less likely)
- massive weight reduction plus chassis/downforce update (possible).
- law of diminishing returns hit Mecedes/Ferrari hurtfully, and there is nothing much to 'find' for them (hoping against hope)
That's because whilst Max was pushing , Mercedes were driving super relaxed to a target time with no deg , and Ferrari sacrificed two VSC pitstops and were pushing each other, still no deg.

[FittingMechanics]

Is it safe to say that this Redbull has very good harvesting? Or is that just down to how max drives? He had at times 40% more battery available than Norris. Tough for Hadjar, I'm sure there is more to come from him.

Every car probably harvests and uses the maximum amount allowed. Fact that someone has more charge at certain point means he is either using it in a different spot or that maybe, the car ahead is skipping some of the harvesting because they defended by braking later (this is suboptimal so probably won't be done a lot as it has a snowball effect). Every car can harvest the maximum but the question is at what cost.

If you read the comms, drivers are instructed to change recharging strategies to better defend. They are also told how other driver uses their energy so they know how to attack.

[Valeo]

Well, I think it's no coincidence that the two cars supposed to be overweight (RBR and Mclaren) struggle.
It was visible how much more lively the Mercedes and Ferrari looked in S1 and S3.
They need to drop weight - fast.
We saw what that did to the RB18 back then.

[AR3-GP]

It looks like Bahrain and Jeddah will be dropped without replacements. That will be crucial time to iron out some of the issues like the weight, software, and other teething problems. China and Japan are damage limitation. Let's see where they are when its a bit more polished.

[Emag]

It looks like Bahrain and Jeddah will be dropped without replacements. That will be crucial time to iron out some of the issues like the weight, software, and other teething problems. China and Japan are damage limitation. Let's see where they are when its a bit more polished.

Finally a sensible decision by the FIA at least. Would be mad to go racing in that region of the world right now.

[AR3-GP]

Is it safe to say that this Redbull has very good harvesting? Or is that just down to how max drives? He had at times 40% more battery available than Norris. Tough for Hadjar, I'm sure there is more to come from him.

Every car probably harvests and uses the maximum amount allowed.

The detail that you are missing is that it cost some cars more laptime than others to harvest the same amount. One of the reasons is related to a point I made in McLaren thread about downforce. Harvesting in the brake zone is the most efficient, but it is limited by the locking of the rear axle. So those cars with weaker rear axle have to push more of the harvesting to super clipping and lico which is less efficient than harvesting more in the brake zone. So it cost more laptime to get the same amount of energy.