2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[euv2]

They gambled, they expected it rain more, .....

.
HUH? Tomorrow will be dry. They had a dry set-up.

The last qualy run, they did only 1 outlap instead of the 2 they did every time before that, because they expected light rain to affect the final few mins of qualy.

[Valeo]

This is the first time Verstappen has qualified lower than third on the grid for his home race. He said he had “the same balance limitations as I had yesterday” despite making changes to his set-up after the sprint race.

“I think there’s some fundamental things in the car hopefully we can fix for next year,” he said. “The rest is maybe trying to find a bit more performance, but we’ll see of course in the coming races.”

https://www.racefans.net/2026/08/22/law ... on-return/

[Rikhart]

This is the first time Verstappen has qualified lower than third on the grid for his home race. He said he had “the same balance limitations as I had yesterday” despite making changes to his set-up after the sprint race.

“I think there’s some fundamental things in the car hopefully we can fix for next year,” he said. “The rest is maybe trying to find a bit more performance, but we’ll see of course in the coming races.”

https://www.racefans.net/2026/08/22/law ... on-return/

It's been close to the third year of the Red Bulls having fundamental things they "hope to fix".

[Paa]

This is the first time Verstappen has qualified lower than third on the grid for his home race. He said he had “the same balance limitations as I had yesterday” despite making changes to his set-up after the sprint race.

“I think there’s some fundamental things in the car hopefully we can fix for next year,” he said. “The rest is maybe trying to find a bit more performance, but we’ll see of course in the coming races.”

https://www.racefans.net/2026/08/22/law ... on-return/

It's been close to the third year of the Red Bulls having fundamental things they "hope to fix".

Exactly. It's been the same story since 2023 or so. About the time when Waché and Newey had their disagreement in which direction to take. Newey briefly talked about this when he left.
There must have been some fundamental design philosophy that Waché is pushing and thinks it worth. I have the same feeling that I had with Merc when they fell from the top. (they believe more in their numbers and simulations than real world feedback from drivers). There must have been a blind spot in their tools, which was fine in 2023. But still not being able to solve this in 3 years is worrying.

[venkyhere]

the car's issue doesn't seem to be aero load. It seems to be mechanical. I have been observing this over many races now since the Austria package (where weight was shed and downforce was added) - the moment there are 'long corners' (take 7,8,13 in Zandvoort) the front of the car doesn't grip as well as the others when it's subjected to 'sustained duration cornering load', and they have to deliberately setup the car with more understeer (for balance) so that the driver isn't encouraged to 'turn the wheel progressively more' which can lead to a rear snap. It probably has something do with front suspension, because in all the examples I have observed (not just Zandvoort) , the moment the 'total load requirement' comes down (slower cornering speed with more fuel weight in race trim) from Q->R, this 'delta of time loss' in such long corners is lesser w.r.t the other teams. To me, it seems they have some kind of limitation with their front suspension design (it doesn't seem aero, because in medium speed 'aero-corners' that aren't long corners, the car is alright).

[lio007]

I think it was last year when Pierre Wache mentioned that some mechanical features were taken away or are not available anymore for them. Maybe a TD that had some effects to their mechanical platform.
Lets see who is targeted at their engineering shooping tour.

[FNTC]

I think Max might have been faster in the Racing Bulls car this weekend.

[lio007]

I think Max might have been faster in the Racing Bulls car this weekend.

For sure Tim Goss and his Team is doing a great job there.
But then it must be down to aero as suspension and PU is the same as at RBR.

[Vettel165]

Bring on 2027, we will be back mark my words. Its better to focus on next year...