2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[Badger]

Hadjar T2 vs Verstappen T1 and Hadjar T1. Fastest laps.
https://i.postimg.cc/4Njsj48L/speed(1).png
Race run. Hadjar T2 vs Verstappen T1.
https://i.postimg.cc/63Zm2wVY/speed(2).png

Either we are in a scenario where going slightly faster through the corners reduces harvesting by a lot, or today they were sandbagging on deployment/turning down the engine.

Seeing as there were some issues with the car it wouldn't surprise me if they were cautious. Hadjar did like 5 install runs with a speed limiter after spending those 3,5 hours in the garage.

what does "T" stand for (T1,T2) in the pic titles ?

Test

[AR3-GP]

Overall, we are satisfied with the car and see that we have left most of the chronic issues we experienced in the past behind us

Interesting.

[AR3-GP]

https://www.gpblog.com/en/exclusive-new ... tralian-gp

GPblog can however, confirm that ExxonMobil’s fuel, the fuel supplier and partner of Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls, has already been approved for the upcoming Formula 1 season. The two Red Bull teams therefore do not need to worry about having to run with a provisional fuel.

[chrisc90]

Being a missile off the grid is going to be good.

[Rikhart]

Being a missile off the grid is going to be good.

Won't do much if you're a sitting duck afterwards.

[organic]

Overall, we are satisfied with the car and see that we have left most of the chronic issues we experienced in the past behind us

Interesting.

From this I gather we've got at least 1 issue from the past

[chrisc90]

Being a missile off the grid is going to be good.

Won't do much if you're a sitting duck afterwards.

I see your point. I wonder how much ‘damage’ will be done on lap with others around you vs a clean run under usual racing conditions.

Would be interesting to see if it would matter much using more energy on the start than not. BUT… I guess it’s track specific

[Badger]

Interesting.

From this I gather we've got at least 1 issue from the past

Ah, the glass quarter empty mentality

[organic]

Hadjar T2 vs Verstappen T1 and Hadjar T1. Fastest laps.
https://i.postimg.cc/4Njsj48L/speed(1).png
Race run. Hadjar T2 vs Verstappen T1.
https://i.postimg.cc/63Zm2wVY/speed(2).png

Either we are in a scenario where going slightly faster through the corners reduces harvesting by a lot, or today they were sandbagging on deployment/turning down the engine.

Seeing as there were some issues with the car it wouldn't surprise me if they were cautious. Hadjar did like 5 install runs with a speed limiter after spending those 3,5 hours in the garage.

Final corner looks nice at least. Hadjar/Verstappen haven't done much downplaying of expectations interestingly

[Paa]

I did not watch the test closely/live.
Can someone explain how Hadjar has one of the lowest top speed while being relatively fast in S1/S3 and being much more behind in S2?
I would expect the opposite. What is the deployment strategy or his overall weakness/strengths. I'm getting mixed signals from these.

[Real PJ's Beard]

Without seeing the traces, the speed trap is at the braking zone for T1, so I can guess that maybe he was clipping to recharge for the run up the hill to T4. Then you have S2 to rehcarge for S3 which I think is how it probably happened in this case

[Paa]

Without seeing the traces, the speed trap is at the braking zone for T1, so I can guess that maybe he was clipping to recharge for the run up the hill to T4. Then you have S2 to rehcarge for S3 which I think is how it probably happened in this case

Yeah, but still interesting to be able to be competitive in S1 while being >20km/h down clipping. Will be much more difficult to understand and compare the pace of different teams. Unless all teams will converge to one optimal re-charge strategy after a few races.

[johnnycesup]

Yeah, but still interesting to be able to be competitive in S1 while being >20km/h down clipping. Will be much more difficult to understand and compare the pace of different teams. Unless all teams will converge to one optimal re-charge strategy after a few races.

The deltas are very questionable, but this is a good tool:

https://www.gp-tempo.com/app?year=2026& ... =telemetry

In short, Hadjar was superclipping into T1, but dumping a lot of battery into T4, while Leclerc does the opposite. It's pretty notable how Russell can boost decently in both straights.

[AR3-GP]

When Motorsport.com asked Verstappen whether he agreed that something needed to be done about these three aspects, the Red Bull driver responded: “The last two things, yes, but I already said that back in 2023. You can raise those points now, but maybe they should have looked at it a bit earlier as a team.

“As for the start, that’s simply the choice you make with the turbo. We consciously made a certain decision there. And those who have problems with it, well, they can also start from the pitlane. Then you’re out of everyone’s way and you can just join the race from there,” he laughed.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/max- ... /10798675/

So not only Ferrari, but also Red Bull prioritized the turbo responsiveness.

Considering that FIA has already decided to give Mercedes a helping hand with the compression ratio, it would be a farce if they now changed the start procedure to help Mercedes who likely selected a turbo to maximize their compression ratio loophole.

[venkyhere]

Bahrain test2 Day2 morning :
C4 tyres, combining three purple sectors by Norris, theoretical time = 1:32.995 , actual fastest lap = 133.453
C3 tyres, Vertappen with all three slower than Norris sectors = 1:33.584 (+ 0.131) , slower by ~0.6s to theoretical fastest.