2025 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[Paa]

From what I can decipher, Max's car will have more race pace than Mclarens & hence he wouldn't be bothered about leading into T1, and will be able to pass them in the back straight.

I'm not saying you are wrong, but what is that based on?
Tomorrow will be hot and it will be about tyre wear. (which was not a factor in Monza)
Even if Max is on par or tiny bit faster it might not be enough for an overtake so the best bet is to keep the lead and then trust in S1 dirty air.

[pantherxxx]

From what I can decipher, Max's car will have more race pace than Mclarens & hence he wouldn't be bothered about leading into T1, and will be able to pass them in the back straight.

I'm not saying you are wrong, but what is that based on?
Tomorrow will be hot and it will be about tyre wear. (which was not a factor in Monza)
Even if Max is on par or tiny bit faster it might not be enough for an overtake so the best bet is to keep the lead and then trust in S1 dirty air.

If the car balance is good, tyre wear naturally comes under control. That's what Red Bull mainly improved with their recent upgrades.

[AR3-GP]

Comparison of last year's sprint pole and this year's sprint pole:



Track temp in 2024: 34C
Track temp in 2025: 41C

The RB21 turns. The onboard footage is nice. Small gains across the first 2 sectors (2 tenths). Max said after qualifying that he had to leave margin in the esses of S1 because of the wind, so there's more to come in T5/T6 compared to last year. +9km/h on the front straight (wind?) and an utter massacre of the RB20 in the final sector. Good riddance. The understeer of the RB20 was simply horrendous. Max had no business on any podium in COTA last year.

[Juzh]

Sprint quali pole
https://streamable.com/vgpp3r

[Valeo]

T1 was scuffy but S1 still purple
Good to know, so more to come.

[f1isgood]

T1 was scuffy but S1 still purple
Good to know, so more to come.

Yeah car is pretty fast. Maybe it is even the quickest. Max of course does Max things.

[Sergej]

Let's see how sprint and quali go today, before surrender to enthusiasms.

[Badger]

Let's see how sprint and quali go today, before surrender to enthusiasms.

Indeed. The car looked good in SQ last year too, but ended up being half a second off the pace in the race.

[f1isgood]

Let's see how sprint and quali go today, before surrender to enthusiasms.

Indeed. The car looked good in SQ last year too, but ended up being half a second off the pace in the race.

I think there's a lot more reason to be positive this year. RB20 had mood swings like crazy - Qatar being the best example. RB21 started off as a car with less baseline performance relative to McLaren and maybe even Mercedes but they have added performance to the car that has only consistently provided solid steps forward.

I don't expect big changes maybe except for Russell to somehow do better as Mercedes seem to be underperforming relatively speaking.

[organic]

Sprint quali pole
https://streamable.com/vgpp3r

It's crazy to watch this after how the car has been for the last 18 months. S3 is like a dream

[venkyhere]

Comparing the SQ3 and Q3 laps from 2024 (the patchup-job crude surgery fixed floor keel and precarious car setup) with the 2025 SQ3 lap, the data is revelatory :

Note the encircled portions in the pic :

A. compared to 2024 Q3, the 2025 SQ3 is more then 2 tenths slower until sector3 starts (mostly due to high track temps I think). Then in the final sector alone, the 2025 car makes up more than 4 tenths on the 2024 car. Whether it's the car, the driver, the tyre life of the S on a 'loaded' hot track, or a combination of some/all of it, this is mega.

B. though the higher track temp has reduced lateral grip in the sector1 snake section, and the traction out of T11, it hasn't affected sector3 and the 'improvement' in 2025 are showing up in sector3.

C. We can see in sector3 how stable the nose is (no understeer) and how well the rear stays faithful. As I remember posting before the weekend started, sector3 is where all the difference is, and this seems to be exactly where Redbull has 'eaten into' McLaren territory.

[AR3-GP]

“During any qualifying session we are trying to maximise the performance of the car by trying to go as low as possible on set-up,” technical director Pierre Wache explained. “During FP1 we tested two types of set-up across the two cars, and we realised that Yuki’s set-up was a little bit better.” That insight was then applied to both cars ahead of sprint qualifying, which “helped the high-speed bottoming that we have in the corners here,” Wache added.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/tb1- ... /10768726/

[f1isgood]

“During any qualifying session we are trying to maximise the performance of the car by trying to go as low as possible on set-up,” technical director Pierre Wache explained. “During FP1 we tested two types of set-up across the two cars, and we realised that Yuki’s set-up was a little bit better.” That insight was then applied to both cars ahead of sprint qualifying, which “helped the high-speed bottoming that we have in the corners here,” Wache added.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/tb1- ... /10768726/

Yuki was about to crash into the wall with his setup. So how low was Max running ?

[pantherxxx]

"It is confirmed that the RB21 no longer suffers from the annoying understeer that distinguished it before the summer break. The changes and the targeted forewing study they have produced significant effects in this regard. The four-time world champion's single-seater now features an extremely solid front, at times even too responsive, a sign of technical research that has pushed the limit of dynamic balance.

It is a fact that the RB21 has managed to expand its operating window, being effective even on higher load circuits, thus keeping an extremely tight challenge alive."

https://www.funoanalisitecnica.com/2025 ... -flop.html

[search]

will be interesting to see what the packing order is like in the sprint. Normally the heat favors McLaren, but I'm not too sure anymore.

Tsunoda should probably start on softs to get an idea for tomorrow. He is out of contention anyway.