2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[avantman]

Hadjar was Perez-good today. And I mean not early 2022 Perez but late 2024 Perez. That’s how good he was. SC saved his ass but race pace deficit to Max was in the late Perez territory.
I wonder when will all the usual suspects start their favorite “but Red Bull built a car only for Max” nonsense. Will they at least way for their first big upgrade, whilst keep ignoring huge Max pace superiority, unseen in any other team.

[Vettel165]

Indeed Max was again quite the better driver, he is just that good with this tractor.

[venkyhere]

Poor max… no words. P6 would be Max today, p8 if Mclaren drivers were starting. A lot of homework to do, both drivers have shown racing spirit. Well its the reality.

Honesty, this 'midfielder-team' like status is what I expected for 2026, before the tests started. Tests were a pleasant surprise, PU reliability wise. Then come races, honeymoon over, atleast 1 car is DNF-ing over the past two races. Not an absolute disaster, still. However, what has been a shocking surprise is that it isn't the PU alone that's problematic, the 'poor chassis' being the cherry on top.

[Vettel165]

Poor max… no words. P6 would be Max today, p8 if Mclaren drivers were starting. A lot of homework to do, both drivers have shown racing spirit. Well its the reality.

Honesty, this 'midfielder-team' like status is what I expected for 2026, before the tests started. Tests were a pleasant surprise, PU reliability wise. Then come races, honeymoon over, atleast 1 car is DNF-ing over the past two races. Not an absolute disaster, still. However, what has been a shocking surprise is that it isn't the PU alone that's problematic, the 'poor chassis' being the cherry on top.

You were right buddy.

[F1Sara]

I am surprised the race pace wasn't better. A very bad weekend. I think long corners are a particularly bad weakness for this chassis at the moment and it made them drop to midfield.

Still, worse pace and deg than their sister team? That's harsh.
Did Hadjar have any long-lasting damage from his kerfuffle in the beginning of the race?
Even then, I think Max was dropping away from Bearman in the end there, so it was hardly better on the other side of the garage.

18s ahead af the time of retirement. Would’ve been 25s ahead in the end if MV had a chance to finish. Hardly better? Have you been watching the race at all? That is massive gap under these regs when best drivers couldnt make as much of a difference as before.

More than 40 s from Antonelli at the time Max had to retire I think? They were showing intervaltimes.

[Seanspeed]

Poor max… no words. P6 would be Max today, p8 if Mclaren drivers were starting. A lot of homework to do, both drivers have shown racing spirit. Well its the reality.

Honesty, this 'midfielder-team' like status is what I expected for 2026, before the tests started. Tests were a pleasant surprise, PU reliability wise. Then come races, honeymoon over, atleast 1 car is DNF-ing over the past two races. Not an absolute disaster, still. However, what has been a shocking surprise is that it isn't the PU alone that's problematic, the 'poor chassis' being the cherry on top.

I'm only shocked that other people are shocked that in a big new regulation change, a Newey-less Red Bull fall backwards on aero/chassis.

[TNTHead]

What about the starts of VER? Not one was right up until now.

I think not the state they are in right now is important, it is their progress in the development battle. Lots to improve:
- start mapping
- balance
- overall downforce
- PU power

2nd half of season should be definitive for a lot of people, will they change key persons, is VER staying?

[venkyhere]

Poor max… no words. P6 would be Max today, p8 if Mclaren drivers were starting. A lot of homework to do, both drivers have shown racing spirit. Well its the reality.

Honesty, this 'midfielder-team' like status is what I expected for 2026, before the tests started. Tests were a pleasant surprise, PU reliability wise. Then come races, honeymoon over, atleast 1 car is DNF-ing over the past two races. Not an absolute disaster, still. However, what has been a shocking surprise is that it isn't the PU alone that's problematic, the 'poor chassis' being the cherry on top.

I'm only shocked that other people are shocked that in a big new regulation change, a Newey-less Red Bull fall backwards on aero/chassis.

aero-wise, it's a far easier formula, no super-sensitivity with ride height or spring stiffness etc, something the teams were doing for ages, before 2022 regulations.

[Juzh]

What about the starts of VER? Not one was right up until now.

Baffling what's happening there. 3 times in a row no less. Either Max is doing something wrong (like too low revs) or target rpm is being calculated too low by the engineers. In any case it's a bad situation that needs resolving asap.

In terms of pace the car was 6th fastest today, behind haas and alpine. Without retirement I'm almost certain Gasly would overtake Max, alpine was an absolute rocket on the straights this round.

[Emag]

What about the starts of VER? Not one was right up until now.

Baffling what's happening there. 3 times in a row no less. Either Max is doing something wrong (like too low revs) or target rpm is being calculated too low by the engineers. In any case it's a bad situation that needs resolving asap.

In terms of pace the car was 6th fastest today, behind haas and alpine. Without retirement I'm almost certain Gasly would overtake Max, alpine was an absolute rocket on the straights this round.

Feels like unfathomable bad luck or a PU that is very tricky to get into the right window for the start. They had some pretty good starts in testing.

[euv2]

Honesty, this 'midfielder-team' like status is what I expected for 2026, before the tests started. Tests were a pleasant surprise, PU reliability wise. Then come races, honeymoon over, atleast 1 car is DNF-ing over the past two races. Not an absolute disaster, still. However, what has been a shocking surprise is that it isn't the PU alone that's problematic, the 'poor chassis' being the cherry on top.

I'm only shocked that other people are shocked that in a big new regulation change, a Newey-less Red Bull fall backwards on aero/chassis.

aero-wise, it's a far easier formula, no super-sensitivity with ride height or spring stiffness etc, something the teams were doing for ages, before 2022 regulations.

That makes Red bulls current chassis woes even more startling. The chassis team was so strong with flat floors, despite the losses in personnel, the current performance level should never be a thing. What were they doing in the winter? I'm not buying into the "developed late into the last season narrative", that was a small core group, bringing parts only through use of CFD.

Red bull even had more ATR time than some rivals, what they have done with the RB22 so far is underwhelming to say the least. Are they trying to qualify for ADUO, try to get even more ATR time in 2nd half? I don't think the team would willingly do such a thing.

[Valeo]

Looking from the outside, the sidepod concept is really different from what they had in the past, while the Mercedes, Ferrari and Mclaren look like adopted 2025 versions and different from pretty much any other car in the field.
Will be interesting if they stick to it for the coming months.

[astracrazy]

What about the starts of VER? Not one was right up until now.

Baffling what's happening there. 3 times in a row no less. Either Max is doing something wrong (like too low revs) or target rpm is being calculated too low by the engineers. In any case it's a bad situation that needs resolving asap.

In terms of pace the car was 6th fastest today, behind haas and alpine. Without retirement I'm almost certain Gasly would overtake Max, alpine was an absolute rocket on the straights this round.

With how adaptable Max is I find it hard to believe these issues will be anything to do with him. Once can happen yes, but all three I just don't see it. I could be wrong.

I haven't looked, but I wonder what level of starts the other three ford drivers have had for all three races. I doubt all as bad, but if all have been above average it would surprise me.

[CjC]

Hadjar was Perez-good today. And I mean not early 2022 Perez but late 2024 Perez. That’s how good he was. SC saved his ass but race pace deficit to Max was in the late Perez territory.
I wonder when will all the usual suspects start their favorite “but Red Bull built a car only for Max” nonsense. Will they at least way for their first big upgrade, whilst keep ignoring huge Max pace superiority, unseen in any other team.

Ok, just for the record- I still believe Red Bull tailor make their car for Max, so if
I say it again after the first upgrade at least I can say that I’ve been consistent

With all due respect, I for one am eagerly looking forward to see how Hadjar gets on against Max, this is the first time since 2021/2022 that the car will be the least tailored to Max and unfortunately we don’t have official result on this as both drivers haven’t finished either race yet

[euv2]

Competitive with who I wonder...