2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[FittingMechanics]

Working on the car under red flag sounds quite bad. DSQ?

Oscar is not getting a podium today. Maybe next weekend.

I know Red Bull likes to make changes in parc ferme but not sure it is allowed.

I don't like lucking into results and McLaren didn't deserve a decent result so I am not bothered either way but I do think view of this infraction would be very different if it affected your result.

[Valeo]

Hope they'll develop the **** out of that chassis under the ATR with more WT and CFD runs

[Juzh]

Car must be a lot more overweight than we all think if engine is indeed the best, because at no point this year has telemetry reflected that.

[FNTC]

The Race is reporting the same. Red Bull must have royally messed up the chassis and/or the MGU-K system if the ICE is 2% stronger than the Mercedes.

[Luscion]

Considering how annoyed Max was at merc for downplaying their pu during pre season testing, and hes usually honest on where they stand. Im surprised Merc get 2%

It doesn't add up with the qualified opinions of sources from multiple teams, drivers, and journalist. It seems a little bit rigged, and I don't like to throw around words like that.

Yea agreed, something definitely feels off

[FNTC]

No further action. Hadjar keeps p3. Tried to change the spark plugs.

[CjC]

I’m sure there are some mixed emotions regarding the latest ADUO results in here.
Proud and elated for having the best PU.
Disappointed that there isn’t an engine upgrade to come.
Disappointed how far away the chassis/ aero must be

[venkyhere]

This is like a kick to the balls.
It means, well it could mean one or more of :
- suboptimal design/engg of the MGU-K + battery + charge/discharge mechanism
- suboptimal algorithm controlling the power flow for the PU as a whole
- terribly overweight, much more than the 'inferred' numbers from the weighbridge in Suzuka
- atrociously bad midfielder-esque chassis.
- Reichmarshall Wolff and his team have yet again 'gamed the system' superbly.

[Valeo]

I’m sure there are some mixed emotions regarding the latest ADUO results in here.
Proud and elated for having the best PU.
Disappointed that there isn’t an engine upgrade to come.
Disappointed how far away the chassis/ aero must be

PU ≠ ICE

[lio007]

I’m sure there are some mixed emotions regarding the latest ADUO results in here.
Proud and elated for having the best PU.
Disappointed that there isn’t an engine upgrade to come.
Disappointed how far away the chassis/ aero must be

Indeed, the team from RBPT deserve a big round of applause. A fizzy drinks company can make a better ICE than the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda and Audi. Incredible.
But still it feels kind of odd given the results from Merc.

[Emag]

That was unexpected. I don't personally delve in conspiracy theories, but people can interpret it as it best fits their perspective. As for me, I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility. FIA might have picked a flawed metric though, because only the ICE is measured. Not the best indicator considering these power units are very complex, especially when it comes to energy management and battery efficiency.

I can believe RBPT has the best ICE, but I would not believe RBPT has the best overall power unit.

[marcel171281]

This is like a kick to the balls.
It means, well it could mean one or more of :
- suboptimal design/engg of the MGU-K + battery + charge/discharge mechanism
- suboptimal algorithm controlling the power flow for the PU as a whole
- terribly overweight, much more than the 'inferred' numbers from the weighbridge in Suzuka
- atrociously bad midfielder-esque chassis.
- Reichmarshall Wolff and his team have yet again 'gamed the system' superbly.

Barcelona will reveal with the high speeds corners.

We know the ICE is good, we know the slow corners are good. Leaving the electrical side and medium and/or high speed corners as potential concerns.

Weight has most impact on slower speed corners, so I think slow speed is extremely good even with the weight or there isn't that much extra weight anymore after all.

[AR3-GP]

I don’t know what happened, but it’s hard to argue that Red Bull have a “bad chassis” when it was enough for Verstappen to fight for pole with an overweight car. Granted I think he drove a better lap than the others, but they were competing. McLaren was not….

Coincidentally all the Mercedes engined teams seem to get stronger when we go to the traditional power tracks, including McLaren.

So in practice the ADUO is not reflecting the real PU performance and Red Bull have been shafted by that. Mercedes have just managed to scam the system much better. That’s it. It doesn’t change my opinion on anything. The ADUO criteria only looks at half of the PU to give development on both the ICE and hybrid. It’s flawed. We can see that in practice because nobody put RBPT ahead of Mercedes.

[CjC]

I’m sure there are some mixed emotions regarding the latest ADUO results in here.
Proud and elated for having the best PU.
Disappointed that there isn’t an engine upgrade to come.
Disappointed how far away the chassis/ aero must be

PU ≠ ICE

I’d much prefer to just call it an engine, ‘there were only V10s back in my day’

[gearboxtrouble]

I don’t know what happened, but it’s hard to argue that Red Bull have a “bad chassis” when it was enough for Verstappen to fight for pole with an overweight car. Granted I think he drove a better lap than the others, but they were competing. McLaren was not….

Coincidentally all the Mercedes engined teams seem to get stronger when we go to the traditional power tracks, including McLaren.

So in practice the ADUO is not reflecting the real PU performance and Red Bull have been shafted by that. Mercedes have just managed to scam the system much better. That’s it. It doesn’t change my opinion on anything. The ADUO criteria only looks at half of the PU to give development on both the ICE and hybrid. It’s flawed. We can see that in practice because nobody put RBPT ahead of Mercedes.

I honestly don't think the car is bad. If they can be in the fight for pole while 8kg overweight in the last 3 races then they're definitely a win capable car. With the engine I can buy the theory that the peak performance of their ICE is better than the Mercedes. Massive kudos to the geniuses as RBPT for pulling off the most impressive debut for a new engine manufacturer in modern F1 history. I don't think they lack absolute performance on the battery or MGUK but it is likely their harvesting just isn't as consistent or good as the manufacturers who have the benefit of all the training data from running hybrids in F1 since 2014. That should be encouraging because it is likely that they could close the gap through the season via better maps and software alone.