basti313 wrote: ↑16 Mar 2026, 12:07
But: How do you explain, that the whole RedBull gang is now behind Alpine, Haas, the RB even behind the Audi. Everyone that put together a half decent car with a Ferrari or Mercedes engine has more pace than the "RB Ford" powered cars, especially in the race, not even taking the driver into account.
Do you remember Brazil 2025 ? They were slower than a lot more teams than Alpine and Haas, on Friday and Saturday. Then the car was brought out of parc ferme' and it became the fastest car on Sunday. That was a 'blip' in the phoenix-like resurgence post the Monza floor. So the whole 'car setup' thing is super-sensitive for the kind of design philosophy that the entire team uses.
In 2026 :
1. correlation still seems to be an issue, the 'base setup' provided by simulator is still miles off the real world when they come out in FP1. Then its the same drama thorugh FP2 and FP3, and even some post FP3 changes, to get the car to a competitive level. The single FP didn't help in China
2. The chassis/aero looks undercooked, since even with a bad setup, the car has to have one redeeming corner type where it 'looks ok'. That was not the case in Australia/China, the car is poor irrespective of the corner type - slow/medium/high speed. Balance is terrible, doesn't look like setup problem alone.
(I even mistakenly placed my bets that they would atleast get the high speed 7-8-9 (only) right in terms of aero balance and Max would do the rest. Now, Suzuka sector1 looks like a disaster in waiting - something unheard of from a redbull car, from 2021 until now)
3. It's difficult to comment on the PU, how 'behind' it is w.r.t the merc/ferrari, but the straights looked 'ok' in both races, hinting that it may not be all that bad and that the engine is capable to keep the team in 'the big four'.
