venkyhere wrote: ↑15 Mar 2026, 15:04
Seanspeed wrote: ↑15 Mar 2026, 14:45
venkyhere wrote: ↑15 Mar 2026, 13:54
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.