2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

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Valeo
Valeo
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Joined: 26 Jul 2025, 18:08

Re: 2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

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New sidepods (again) and now also those front wing endplates like most teams have.

Just_a_fan
Just_a_fan
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Joined: 31 Jan 2010, 20:37

Re: 2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

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Seanspeed wrote:
21 Apr 2026, 13:24
Just_a_fan wrote:
20 Apr 2026, 14:42
Seanspeed wrote:
19 Apr 2026, 22:58

Drivers are a very different thing, especially when they all come specifically from Red Bull's very own driver development program. Newey did not have to spend a stint at Toro Rosso before joining Red Bull. lol RB may be cultivating engineering talent to a degree via Toro Rosso, but it was not meant to be a 'feeder' team in that sense.
Except only Red Bull has this particular facility with its own junior team.
Sure? Doesn't really change what I'm saying. They're only cribbing from their junior team more right now because of all the major departures. This was not a normal practice from them before, where they hired more experienced and esteemed guys elsewhere for top technical roles even when Toro Rosso existed.
Back when the junior team was still Minardi, they did come up with ideas that the better funded teams copied and developed. No idea if any of that old team are still there after all these years, however. Just because a team isn't a top step team doesn't mean they can't come up with good ideas. It's the ability to develop things that the better funded teams enjoy.

Frankly, Racing Bulls should be entirely separate anyway, so poaching engineers should be no different to any other team doing it - gardening leave, etc., - but as it's these two teams they can move people around as they see fit.
If you are more fortunate than others, build a larger table not a taller fence.

Seanspeed
Seanspeed
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Joined: 20 Feb 2019, 20:12

Re: 2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

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Just_a_fan wrote:
22 Apr 2026, 17:38
Back when the junior team was still Minardi, they did come up with ideas that the better funded teams copied and developed. No idea if any of that old team are still there after all these years, however. Just because a team isn't a top step team doesn't mean they can't come up with good ideas. It's the ability to develop things that the better funded teams enjoy.

Frankly, Racing Bulls should be entirely separate anyway, so poaching engineers should be no different to any other team doing it - gardening leave, etc., - but as it's these two teams they can move people around as they see fit.
I've not said anywhere that pilfering Toro Rosso's engineering was something inherently bad or that anybody there sucks. Obviously you can find talent everywhere, especially when put in the right position.

"It's the ability to develop things that the better funded teams enjoy". Well that's not so much the case these days in the cost cap era and allowing lower ranked teams a good deal more windtunnel/CFD time. The top teams still somehow remain the top teams and by clear margins. Because it really is about engineering talent and a cohesive technical department as a whole that makes for success.

And while I will acknowledge Toro Rosso has engineering talent, it probably is not providing Red Bull the key difference makers they'll need to get back to the top again in this deeply rich and competitive engineering landscape of F1.

f1isgood
f1isgood
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Joined: 31 Oct 2022, 19:52
Location: Continental Europe

Re: 2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

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Interesting changes on the car. Maybe it will be able to fight for podiums at some point in the season. McLaren seem very confident in their ability to out-develop everyone else and I trust them to do that.
The FIA folds on a royal flush.

euv2
euv2
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Joined: 14 Mar 2025, 09:34

Re: 2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

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Red Bull are maintaining no little momentum in recruitment, having taken on 120 new employees across engine and chassis in the first quarter of this year alone.

“But now the ghost of the power unit – is Oracle Red Bull Racing going to have a strong enough power unit for the years to come? – has disappeared. We have our own issues. We need to get these tenths back, we need to fix what we need to fix with the car. This, we know how to do. It’s going to happen, not in Miami, but it’s going to happen.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/ ... ne-factory

Good to hear that they've been recruiting heavily, I'm assuming most of it is still PU side but still good news, nonetheless.
Also, they seem confident that they now know what's wrong with car and how to fix it. Let's hope it works out. Rest of the article is mostly about their visit to the engine dept.

Waz
Waz
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Joined: 03 Mar 2024, 09:29

Re: 2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

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Miami will be telling though. It's been a long break. Long enough to get a solution for the driveability issues and improve the stability at least. It sets the tone until the summer break, and shows if Wache has learned from seasons like 24 and 25, endlessly trying to add performance upgrades to a car that was becoming more difficult to drive.

f1isgood
f1isgood
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Location: Continental Europe

Re: 2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

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Waz wrote:
24 Apr 2026, 09:17
Miami will be telling though. It's been a long break. Long enough to get a solution for the driveability issues and improve the stability at least. It sets the tone until the summer break, and shows if Wache has learned from seasons like 24 and 25, endlessly trying to add performance upgrades to a car that was becoming more difficult to drive.
Not sure if that is anywhere near accurate. The car simply didn't have performance as well in 2024 and 2025 over a race.
The FIA folds on a royal flush.

pantherxxx
pantherxxx
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Location: Hungary

Re: 2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

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The fact that Red Bull managed to copy the “Macarena” rear wing so quickly shows they still have massive engineering resources that no other team can match. Also, the fact that they’ve built the second-best engine with a brand-new company says a lot.

What I don’t understand is why the car is so slow then. Is it a mistake they can fix this year? Did they start developing the chassis too late because of the 2025 season? Or is their old wind tunnel the bottleneck?

loekf2
loekf2
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Joined: 17 Sep 2018, 16:51

Re: 2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

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pantherxxx wrote:
24 Apr 2026, 15:50
The fact that Red Bull managed to copy the “Macarena” rear wing so quickly shows they still have massive engineering resources that no other team can match. Also, the fact that they’ve built the second-best engine with a brand-new company says a lot.

What I don’t understand is why the car is so slow then. Is it a mistake they can fix this year? Did they start developing the chassis too late because of the 2025 season? Or is their old wind tunnel the bottleneck?
Think it is a combination. Bad windtunnel, late start, departure of key people and new hires who though smart and good need to learn without strong guidance from old timers.

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organic
1143
Joined: 08 Jan 2022, 02:24
Location: Cambridge, UK

Re: 2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

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euv2 wrote:
24 Apr 2026, 05:17
Red Bull are maintaining no little momentum in recruitment, having taken on 120 new employees across engine and chassis in the first quarter of this year alone.

“But now the ghost of the power unit – is Oracle Red Bull Racing going to have a strong enough power unit for the years to come? – has disappeared. We have our own issues. We need to get these tenths back, we need to fix what we need to fix with the car. This, we know how to do. It’s going to happen, not in Miami, but it’s going to happen.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/ ... ne-factory

Good to hear that they've been recruiting heavily, I'm assuming most of it is still PU side but still good news, nonetheless.
Also, they seem confident that they now know what's wrong with car and how to fix it. Let's hope it works out. Rest of the article is mostly about their visit to the engine dept.
Not in Miami [-o<

euv2
euv2
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Joined: 14 Mar 2025, 09:34

Re: 2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

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organic wrote:
25 Apr 2026, 10:28
euv2 wrote:
24 Apr 2026, 05:17
Red Bull are maintaining no little momentum in recruitment, having taken on 120 new employees across engine and chassis in the first quarter of this year alone.

“But now the ghost of the power unit – is Oracle Red Bull Racing going to have a strong enough power unit for the years to come? – has disappeared. We have our own issues. We need to get these tenths back, we need to fix what we need to fix with the car. This, we know how to do. It’s going to happen, not in Miami, but it’s going to happen.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/ ... ne-factory

Good to hear that they've been recruiting heavily, I'm assuming most of it is still PU side but still good news, nonetheless.
Also, they seem confident that they now know what's wrong with car and how to fix it. Let's hope it works out. Rest of the article is mostly about their visit to the engine dept.
Not in Miami [-o<
“The fact that we have this wind tunnel coming sometime next year also puts you at a completely different level.

Might not even be the only bad news, wasn't the WT supposed to come online late this season? looks like it might have gotten delayed.

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organic
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Location: Cambridge, UK

Re: 2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

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How many sidepod versions is it now

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Juzh
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Joined: 06 Oct 2012, 08:45

Re: 2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

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Sidepod revisions will continue until morale improves.

Seanspeed
Seanspeed
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Joined: 20 Feb 2019, 20:12

Re: 2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

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organic wrote:
27 Apr 2026, 23:56
How many sidepod versions is it now
Three in four races. lol

Four if you include their original blocked off sidepods from testing.

I do kinda wonder whether they're just trying out all three of these concepts early on just to know what's the best direction? I dont think I've ever seen anything like this otherwise.

Badger
Badger
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Joined: 22 Sep 2025, 17:00

Re: 2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

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If simulation doesn't work use brute force. Correlation on track is undefeated.

The sidepod upgrades seem to be coming too quickly for it to be part of the original plan, but also too quickly for me to believe that it is purely reactive. In Japan they brought a new spec, then they had another completely new spec with engine cover for testing 2-3 weeks later. Did they really design and manufacture that from scratch after Japan or did they bring something forward that they had been working on in the background since earlier? I think that upgrade was coming later regardless of what happened in Japan, but the poor performance we saw and the cancellation of two races simply gave them the impetus to fast track it to Miami.