2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[venkyhere]

What has been the issue with Max in the starts?

I suspect driver error, as that's the only reasonable explanation. Hadjar gets good starts.

[Jurgen von Diaz]

What has been the issue with Max in the starts?

I suspect driver error, as that's the only reasonable explanation. Hadjar gets good starts.

Okay, so no explanation (yet) from the team side. It's odd that it has happened 3/3 times already this season.

[Valeo]

What has been the issue with Max in the starts?

I suspect driver error, as that's the only reasonable explanation. Hadjar gets good starts.

Three times in a row?
And it's not like he has a bad start, losing a couple of positions.
He pretty much stopped every time/didn't move at all.

[euv2]

Apparently ERS overheated and this caused Max's retirement, so this probably means more cooling will be required which will further slow the car down.

I read it was a coolant leak, so don't think they'll need to change anything too much.

[upsidedowntoast]

Think it is drained battery, not anti-stall or clutch. I don’t understand why it is mainly RBR, not Racing Bulls. Same PU, same gearbox, same software.

It is engine or clutch related, below 50 km/h no electric power is used, on the onboard you see the engine bogs down massively. Too aggressive clutch in combination with a narrow power band I suppose.

I noticed that Hadjar doesn't seem to have such a big problem in his starts.

Yeah I've been confused by this as well. Guess Max can start from the pitlane worst case scenario /s

I'm joking of course, but Max always has cool overtakes and stuff even if the car is not up to snuff so we can always count on him to provide some entertainment when the start or qualy is bad.

[Juzh]

What has been the issue with Max in the starts?

I suspect driver error, as that's the only reasonable explanation. Hadjar gets good starts.

Max says he's not an idiot to make the same bad start 3 times in a row
https://streamain.com/en/DMdkdcr80tQw8hq/watch

[Wouter]

This video was taken 10 hours ago at Shanghai Airport. Max, Vermeulen, Mekies, Waché and Lambiase.

[Paa]

For me the main concern is not the pure performance of the car. I just don't feel the energy in the team. I mean even the pitstops are bad, like a midfield team.
Red Bull lost too many key people in past years without even 1 big hire. You can't lose so many people without having a toll in performance.

I think team really needs a big re-shuffle, some hiring and org changes before they can compete in the top again.
At least they had a good baseline car at the end of the last era. Now when they need to create something from scratch, they are exposed.

[euv2]

For me the main concern is not the pure performance of the car. I just don't feel the energy in the team. I mean even the pitstops are bad, like a midfield team.
Red Bull lost too many key people in past years without even 1 big hire. You can't lose so many people without having a toll in performance.

I think team really needs a big re-shuffle, some hiring and org changes before they can compete in the top again.
At least they had a good baseline car at the end of the last era. Now when they need to create something from scratch, they are exposed.

Agree, if the car is not right, Red bull's philosophy has been to maximise whatever else they can. They need to be the no.1 team in pitstops again.

We'll have to see what they do for Craig Skinners replacement, if they continue to stick with promoting internal staff, that's a red flag for me. They need to get different perspectives on car development, feels like the team is very set in their ways, which isn't a bad thing when you're winning but now it feels different.

[nitrotech]

For me the main concern is not the pure performance of the car. I just don't feel the energy in the team. I mean even the pitstops are bad, like a midfield team.
Red Bull lost too many key people in past years without even 1 big hire. You can't lose so many people without having a toll in performance.

I think team really needs a big re-shuffle, some hiring and org changes before they can compete in the top again.
At least they had a good baseline car at the end of the last era. Now when they need to create something from scratch, they are exposed.

I am 100% certain, Jos and Oliver Mintzalaf have great plans to quickly fix everything and win this year's championship. In Jos the boss, we trust.

[Brahmal]

What has been the issue with Max in the starts?

I suspect driver error, as that's the only reasonable explanation. Hadjar gets good starts.

Max says he's not an idiot to make the same bad start 3 times in a row
https://streamain.com/en/DMdkdcr80tQw8hq/watch

Max seems to be in a mental spiral right now, a bit like Lewis last year. I'm not sure his judgement can be trusted atm. Just needs to get through Japan in one piece and reset.

[FittingMechanics]

What has been the issue with Max in the starts?

Think it is drained battery, not anti-stall or clutch. I don’t understand why it is mainly RBR, not Racing Bulls. Same PU, same gearbox, same software.

It is engine or clutch related, below 50 km/h no electric power is used, on the onboard you see the engine bogs down massively. Too aggressive clutch in combination with a narrow power band I suppose.

When I watched Lando onboard Melbourne during the FPs they were asking him to do a conservative launch. It is possible Max wants to do the fastest launch but that it is tricky to execute while other RB drivers use a more conservative (and slower) launch.

[Jurgen von Diaz]

For me the main concern is not the pure performance of the car. I just don't feel the energy in the team. I mean even the pitstops are bad, like a midfield team.
Red Bull lost too many key people in past years without even 1 big hire. You can't lose so many people without having a toll in performance.

I think team really needs a big re-shuffle, some hiring and org changes before they can compete in the top again.
At least they had a good baseline car at the end of the last era. Now when they need to create something from scratch, they are exposed.

I am 100% certain, Jos and Oliver Mintzalaf have great plans to quickly fix everything and win this year's championship. In Jos the boss, we trust.

Without Newey, this is Wache's masterpiece, as Horner said Newey wasn't the important link before he left.

[basti313]

For me the main concern is not the pure performance of the car. I just don't feel the energy in the team. I mean even the pitstops are bad, like a midfield team.
Red Bull lost too many key people in past years without even 1 big hire. You can't lose so many people without having a toll in performance.

I think team really needs a big re-shuffle, some hiring and org changes before they can compete in the top again.
At least they had a good baseline car at the end of the last era. Now when they need to create something from scratch, they are exposed.

I am 100% certain, Jos and Oliver Mintzalaf have great plans to quickly fix everything and win this year's championship. In Jos the boss, we trust.

Without Newey, this is Wache's masterpiece, as Horner said Newey wasn't the important link before he left.

I think this is a wrong accusation still. That the RedBull is snappy as hell and not well balanced...well that is not really surprising after the last two years.

My suspicion: The ICE is $hit.
- Bad ICE efficiency is killing aero, as you need more cooling
- Bad ICE efficiency kills your pace as you carry more fuel
- Turbo size seems to affect the starting performance, there are suspicions Ferrari uses a small one...guess what the Americans usually do...
- Ford being super innovative and doing compression ratio tricks. The more I think about this...

That also puts a new level to the politics about the CR tricks. If RedBull knew before, that the ICE is not up to the game...they do not want to slow down Merc, but they want to get as much freedom for ADUO changes and rather want Ferrari and Audi to run into the same trouble with changing the ICE.

[Badger]

I am 100% certain, Jos and Oliver Mintzalaf have great plans to quickly fix everything and win this year's championship. In Jos the boss, we trust.

Without Newey, this is Wache's masterpiece, as Horner said Newey wasn't the important link before he left.

I think this is a wrong accusation still. That the RedBull is snappy as hell and not well balanced...well that is not really surprising after the last two years.

My suspicion: The ICE is $hit.
- Bad ICE efficiency is killing aero, as you need more cooling
- Bad ICE efficiency kills your pace as you carry more fuel
- Turbo size seems to affect the starting performance, there are suspicions Ferrari uses a small one...guess what the Americans usually do...
- Ford being super innovative and doing compression ratio tricks. The more I think about this...

That also puts a new level to the politics about the CR tricks. If RedBull knew before, that the ICE is not up to the game...they do not want to slow down Merc, but they want to get as much freedom for ADUO changes and rather want Ferrari and Audi to run into the same trouble with changing the ICE.

Nothing you said makes sense.