2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[Emag]

That’s actually huge. If these numbers are accurate (and they seem to be), that explains almost the whole deficit. It’s very surprising for them to be this much overweight though. People were dismissing these numbers when they were mentioned for Williams because it seemed unrealistically high. To see it on a scale with RedBull is very unexpected.

[pantherxxx]

They're not shedding 30kgs by end of the year. This is peak incompetence. Williams level incompetence.

Also this doesn't explain why the car is generally --- at everything lol. The 2022 car had very clear strengths even while being so heavy. There's nothing on this car.

Vowles said that in this ruleset, excess weight matters roughly twice as much as it did under the previous regulations, because it negatively affects energy management, particularly when charging the battery in the corners. The 2022 car became dominant once they fixed its weight. This car likely won’t become dominant, but it should be much more competitive than it is now.

[organic]

They're not shedding 30kgs by end of the year. This is peak incompetence. Williams level incompetence.

Also this doesn't explain why the car is generally --- at everything lol. The 2022 car had very clear strengths even while being so heavy. There's nothing on this car.

Vowles said that in this ruleset, excess weight matters roughly twice as much as it did under the previous regulations, because it negatively affects energy management, particularly when charging the battery in the corners. The 2022 car became dominant once they fixed its weight. This car likely won’t become dominant, but it should be much more competitive than it is now.

30kg used to account for 9 tenths. If it's worth twice as much now...

[f1isgood]

They're not shedding 30kgs by end of the year. This is peak incompetence. Williams level incompetence.

Also this doesn't explain why the car is generally --- at everything lol. The 2022 car had very clear strengths even while being so heavy. There's nothing on this car.

Vowles said that in this ruleset, excess weight matters roughly twice as much as it did under the previous regulations, because it negatively affects energy management, particularly when charging the battery in the corners. The 2022 car became dominant once they fixed its weight. This car likely won’t become dominant, but it should be much more competitive than it is now.

Yes but if it mattered so much and you still show up 30 kilograms heavy..
I have no words

It would be a mismanagement of the highest proportion. Red Bull knew this from last regulation itself. It's like they really started the 2026 project in December 2025.

We should all be honest here as well. Theres no evidence the car is very good either. They don't have the downforce of Ferrari or the ease of driveability of Mercedes.

The RB18 was excellent generally even while overweight. Race pace of that car was something else. This car doesn't have any redeeming qualities.

[Xyz22]

https://x.com/JefferyK_EntH/status/2033 ... 93402?s=20

[Sergej]

They're not shedding 30kgs by end of the year. This is peak incompetence. Williams level incompetence.

Also this doesn't explain why the car is generally --- at everything lol. The 2022 car had very clear strengths even while being so heavy. There's nothing on this car.

That is true, RB18 despite the overweight showed clear qualities, which this car does not seem to have. However, we have been told that this year overweight matters much more, so maybe under that there is something good in the RB22. The thing is it will take muuuuuch time to get it.

[euv2]

Another indicator of being overweight has to be the terrible tyre wear we've seen so far. This news would just confirm the fact. 30kg will take a lot of work too shave off.

[pantherxxx]

I think the RB22 isn’t fundamentally bad, it’s just early-season / half-finished. Right now it’s overweight and running a very basic aero package, so it's slower than Ferrari and Mercedes. Once Red Bull introduces a significant weight reduction and some aero upgrades, it’s entirely plausible they could gain around 1 second per lap.

[lh13]

https://x.com/JefferyK_EntH/status/2033 ... 93402?s=20

Would it make sense to add ballast and driver's weight separately, instead of just adding a fixed number (82kg)?

[AR3-GP]

Wache and Verstappen always said this thing had "potential". Max is not going to carry someone else's bs for them. If Max says it has potential, then its because they know something obvious is wrong. In this case it is the weight of the car.

Furthermore, if they are talking about potential this year, then it means they intend to deal with a lot of it this year. They probably bring a lightweight chassis in the 2nd half.

[AlexP]

If I’m not mistaken, the minimum qualy weight this year is 772 kg – 726 kg plus the weight of the tyres, which is 46 kg. If the chart is correct, Hadjar should weigh 70.5 kg with all his equipment, so there should already be 11.5 kg of ballast in the car to reach the minimum weight of 82 kg for the driver; the car should be 15 kg overweight in theory. 787 (car+the driver) - 772 (minimum weight of car in qualy)

[euv2]

Wache and Verstappen always said this thing had "potential". Max is not going to carry someone else's bs for them. If Max says it has potential, then its because they know something obvious is wrong. In this case it is the weight of the car.

Furthermore, if they are talking about potential this year, then it means they intend to deal with a lot of it this year. They probably bring a lightweight chassis in the 2nd half.

Weird that no one from the team has said the car is overweight, when McLaren and Williams have done so.
Would have reduced the scrutiny. Yes, a new lightweight chassis will be a must.

[f1isgood]

10kg or 20kg or 30kg or whatever doesn't matter. The fact that they're starting heavy is also simply incompetence.

They're inevitably putting a start up engine under more duress by doing this and they have had past experience with this. It's very hard to remove weight.

Even weight aside, pitstops are not good, strategy calls have been suspect since 24 and the team doesnt have the energy anymore.

They have it wrong in so many ways. Something has to come from the top. These are the basic things you'd expect from Red Bull.

Even then there are usually signs of a good chassis. We haven't seen any indication so far. You cannot be slower than a Haas and claim to have "potential".

[f1isgood]

Wache and Verstappen always said this thing had "potential". Max is not going to carry someone else's bs for them. If Max says it has potential, then its because they know something obvious is wrong. In this case it is the weight of the car.

Furthermore, if they are talking about potential this year, then it means they intend to deal with a lot of it this year. They probably bring a lightweight chassis in the 2nd half.

Weird that no one from the team has said the car is overweight, when McLaren and Williams have done so.
Would have reduced the scrutiny. Yes, a new lightweight chassis will be a must.

Wache said this already in pre season testing. He specifically said the situation isn't as bad as 2022 though. So 30kg would be a disaster and 10kg is more along the lines of what I think is going on.

[f1isgood]

They're not shedding 30kgs by end of the year. This is peak incompetence. Williams level incompetence.

Also this doesn't explain why the car is generally --- at everything lol. The 2022 car had very clear strengths even while being so heavy. There's nothing on this car.

That is true, RB18 despite the overweight showed clear qualities, which this car does not seem to have. However, we have been told that this year overweight matters much more, so maybe under that there is something good in the RB22. The thing is it will take muuuuuch time to get it.

Yes. I think it's normal to expect better given they knew these issues very well from last regulation cycle. It's ultimately throwing points and podiums away.