2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[lh13]

They're saying that once max isn't in the car (the condition that the weighing was made with) you still have to account for the driver ballast (the weight that max is under the 82kg driver minimum weight) which isn't taken out of the car as it's under the driver seat. Max is just over 70kg, so the driver ballast is ~10kg. Meaning that red bull is probably around 20kg overweight

Much more believable.

Yes, but in the photo it’s Hadjar’s car at the weighbridge or am I missing something?

Ok sure hadjar. I don't know hadjar's weight but afaik max is one of the heavier drivers on the grid. Hadjar is pretty short so I'd say 65kg is safe. So 17kg driver ballast can explain a big portion of the weight excess?

In the photo it says Hadjar is ~70 with equipment, so around 12kg of ballast. I guess your initial assumption of around ~20kg would be correct.

[AR3-GP]

The car doesn't have anything super strong unlike the RB18. There's really nothing that I have seen so far that screams potential. If the car had performance we would see it. The data never lies. You cannot finish behind Gasly and Bearman in a new regulation on merit even as a second driver. It's just not it. You cannot spin it any other way.

The launch spec RB18 is being overrated. It was not a spectacular car either. It was a tire munching and understeering car with a good DRS system. Remember Bahrain, Australia, Spain, Austria?

[Valeo]

The really important question now is, how many races would Max need to overcome a potential 150 point deficit by mid season?

[organic]

The really important question now is, how many races would Max need to overcome a potential 150 point deficit by mid season?

(1.5x+1) however many races there were post-monza

[lh13]

The car doesn't have anything super strong unlike the RB18. There's really nothing that I have seen so far that screams potential. If the car had performance we would see it. The data never lies. You cannot finish behind Gasly and Bearman in a new regulation on merit even as a second driver. It's just not it. You cannot spin it any other way.

The launch spec RB18 is being overrated. It was not a spectacular car either. It was a tire munching and understeering car with a good DRS system. Remember Australia, Spain, Austria?

Also every other team (except Ferrari) was below average. Also, I'm paraphrasing, but didn't Horner say that their car is not THAT good, its just that everyone else is bad?

[pantherxxx]

Even Williams said they can quickly fix their overweight issues, so Red Bull should done it faster. They can probably do it in that 1 month break between Japan and Miami Gp.

[Emag]

The car doesn't have anything super strong unlike the RB18. There's really nothing that I have seen so far that screams potential. If the car had performance we would see it. The data never lies. You cannot finish behind Gasly and Bearman in a new regulation on merit even as a second driver. It's just not it. You cannot spin it any other way.

The launch spec RB18 is being overrated. It was not a spectacular car either. It was a tire munching and understeering car with a good DRS system. Remember Bahrain, Australia, Spain, Austria?

It won 7 of the first 10 races with 3 DNFs between the two drivers. It might not have been a good car if you want to compare it to an ideal baseline, but it was a very competitive package relative to the competition.

[f1isgood]

The car doesn't have anything super strong unlike the RB18. There's really nothing that I have seen so far that screams potential. If the car had performance we would see it. The data never lies. You cannot finish behind Gasly and Bearman in a new regulation on merit even as a second driver. It's just not it. You cannot spin it any other way.

The launch spec RB18 is being overrated. It was not a spectacular car either. It was a tire munching and understeering car with a good DRS system. Remember Australia, Spain, Austria?

I remember how comfortably the car was gapping the third best car. Comfortably podium contender even on its worst days.

DRS system was due to weight loss attempts unironically. Austria was a setup issue due to sprint weekends and that is still present in the team.

Australia was fine.

Ferrari didn't have a herculian title fight to deal with and even before the TD were already losing left right and center. Given that, RB18 was actually a phenomenal car. Ferrari did one battery upgrade in 2021 and that was their biggest.

In 2025 Red Bull were mostly useless. They won a bunch of races aided by how useless McLaren's entire team was. They were not even outright fast in five races. Given this, and how similarly matched they were with Mercedes last year, showing up this year so far behind is just a job poorly done.

RB18 also had races like Jeddah/Bahrain in the same timeframe where it was competing with Ferrari neck and neck. The Jeddah Verstappen race on board is probably the best on board I have seen while fighting Leclerc

RB18 was a top class car. It was undercooked but for reasons very very understandable.

[lh13]

The car doesn't have anything super strong unlike the RB18. There's really nothing that I have seen so far that screams potential. If the car had performance we would see it. The data never lies. You cannot finish behind Gasly and Bearman in a new regulation on merit even as a second driver. It's just not it. You cannot spin it any other way.

The launch spec RB18 is being overrated. It was not a spectacular car either. It was a tire munching and understeering car with a good DRS system. Remember Bahrain, Australia, Spain, Austria?

It won 7 of the first 10 races with 3 DNFs between the two drivers. It might not have been a good car if you want to compare it to an ideal baseline, but it was a very competitive package relative to the competition.

That is the point. That car looked good while being overweight because of the competition, and this car looks bad being overweight, also becuase of the competition.

[f1isgood]

Even Williams said they can quickly fix their overweight issues, so Red Bull should done it faster. They can probably do it in that 1 month break between Japan and Miami Gp.

Vowles is a PR merchant though. He is just all about excuses.

[f1isgood]

The really important question now is, how many races would Max need to overcome a potential 150 point deficit by mid season?

Mercedes are more competent than McLaren and Russell won't throw a title into the bin like Piastri and Norris nearly did.

[f1isgood]

The launch spec RB18 is being overrated. It was not a spectacular car either. It was a tire munching and understeering car with a good DRS system. Remember Bahrain, Australia, Spain, Austria?

It won 7 of the first 10 races with 3 DNFs between the two drivers. It might not have been a good car if you want to compare it to an ideal baseline, but it was a very competitive package relative to the competition.

That is the point. That car looked good while being overweight because of the competition, and this car looks bad being overweight, also becuase of the competition.

They're behind* Haas and Alpine. What's the competition

[AR3-GP]

I remember how comfortably the car was gapping the third best car. Comfortably podium contender even on its worst days.

DRS system was due to weight loss attempts unironically. Austria was a setup issue due to sprint weekends and that is still present in the team.

Australia was fine.

RB18 understeered the whole time but I'm not going to argue about that further. My point is the Rb22 doesn't have to be a rocketship that is being hampered by 20kg of weight. It would be competitive on pure laptime against the front runners just by dropping 20kg and whatever extra weight is needed so they can play around with the ballast.

[lh13]

It won 7 of the first 10 races with 3 DNFs between the two drivers. It might not have been a good car if you want to compare it to an ideal baseline, but it was a very competitive package relative to the competition.

That is the point. That car looked good while being overweight because of the competition, and this car looks bad being overweight, also becuase of the competition.

They're behind* Haas and Alpine. What's the competition

I'm certainly not making execuses for this year. Just hoping that reducing the weight will fix most of their issues. They were also best of the rest in Australia, so all is not lost I think.

[Wouter]

Do we know what kind of simulator Red Bull uses? How moder/well-developed is it to others?
We talked a lot about wind-tunnel, but that alone would't explain their constant setup issues.
If I would be TP looking at the simulator would be my first priority (besides hiring some fresh blood).

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Rudy van Buren, RBR sim driver, answers the question when we ask him how realistic their F1 sim is. “The fact that we can overlay the data from the track and the sim like that already indicates how realistic it is. Of course, we don't generate the G-forces that the drivers feel in the sim, but otherwise: the braking, the steering, the whole shebang. We are all crammed into a Formula 1 car with helmets on. It really comes close.”

Red Bull Racing (RBR) has a very advanced, full-scale Formula 1 simulator at its factory in Milton Keynes, which is used for car development and preparation for race weekends. This is a custom-built machine, not a consumer product.

Here are the key features of the RBR simulator in Milton Keynes:

The simulator is mounted on a so-called hexapod (6-axis) motion platform. This provides 'six degrees of freedom', allowing drivers to realistically feel the forces (braking, accelerating, steering).

The simulator is located in an enclosed room with a 180-degree (or more) panoramic screen or a wrap-around LED screen. The cockpit itself is often a real or highly accurate replica of the current RBR car (e.g., the RB19/RB20), including working controls and steering system.

The system utilizes highly advanced computer models based on the real mechanical, dynamic, and aerodynamic characteristics of the F1 car. They use specialized software, often based on rFpro, to simulate the track and weather conditions.

The simulator is used for car setup, testing new parts, analyzing tire wear, and driver training.

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All fine. It's a description of what an F1 factory simulator is.
That description doesn't mean it's 'doing it's job perfectly'. The team leaders themselves have been complaining of 'correlation issue' for the past 2 years.

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No, it is not!! Didn't you read the sentence in red I wrote?
Those correlation problems were over in October/November last year according to Rudy van Buren who is almost every race weekend from Thursday till Saturday night in Milton Keynes in the simulator.