2025 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[Paa]

To sum up the testing.
1 day --> first impressions, overall positive vibes
2 day --> It's Lawson so mostly ignored, inconclusive
3 day --> Trying to add/go for performance, then issues arise

I think the phenomenon is very similar to last year and also very similar to what other teams are experiencing.
They can create very impressive numbers in WT and CFD, but the higher they go with performance the more instable it gets. I think at this point all teams could create a a floor with massive downforce, the problem is to bring it to track reliably.
The challenge is to find the best compromise between predictability and peak performance.
I think Newey was great in finding this balance. Now RedBull seems to be going to the data-driven Mercedes mentality, chasing the magic numbers from the CFD. And get very similar results. (Aston, Ferrari etc have been all here as well to various extent)
McLaren seems to be the best now in understanding this. (although even them had slight problems with this, delaying their floor updates toward the end of last season)

[Bill]

how does Lawson compare to max ,from the limited running we had he look a step behind .kimi on the merc straight away looks on pace ,so why is the redbull always difficult to extract performance for second driver

[zeroday]

how does Lawson compare to max ,from the limited running we had he look a step behind .kimi on the merc straight away looks on pace ,so why is the redbull always difficult to extract performance for second driver

It doesn't help that RB has always had the mentality to not want to upset Max with a good second driver. Objectively, no one believed TSU nor SAI had any chance at that seat because they would have put up a good challenge to Max, which would have upset Max. Simple as that. Other teams don't have that mentality and hence, they always have better second drivers. Just the reality. It's the RB culture at the moment.

[Henri]

how does Lawson compare to max ,from the limited running we had he look a step behind .kimi on the merc straight away looks on pace ,so why is the redbull always difficult to extract performance for second driver

It doesn't help that RB has always had the mentality to not want to upset Max with a good second driver. Objectively, no one believed TSU nor SAI had any chance at that seat because they would have put up a good challenge to Max, which would have upset Max. Simple as that. Other teams don't have that mentality and hence, they always have better second drivers. Just the reality. It's the RB culture at the moment.

Its so revealing from markos words too

[Seanspeed]

how does Lawson compare to max ,from the limited running we had he look a step behind .kimi on the merc straight away looks on pace ,so why is the redbull always difficult to extract performance for second driver

It doesn't help that RB has always had the mentality to not want to upset Max with a good second driver. Objectively, no one believed TSU nor SAI had any chance at that seat because they would have put up a good challenge to Max, which would have upset Max. Simple as that. Other teams don't have that mentality and hence, they always have better second drivers. Just the reality. It's the RB culture at the moment.

Why did they get rid of Perez then? I mean, why even hire Perez in the first place when Perez was decently well rated at the time? Perez only has a lower reputation now because Verstappen wiped the floor with him.

And it's a genuine laugh to think Tsunoda could have put up a challenge to Max.

Sainz might have been closer, but let's be real - Verstappen was already beating him convincingly when they were teammates and Verstappen was ultra green in terms of experience racing cars.

Truth is, nobody outside of one of the very few best in the sport are capable of actually rivaling Verstappen and even then I'd still put money on Verstappen over a season any day.

[ali623]

how does Lawson compare to max ,from the limited running we had he look a step behind .kimi on the merc straight away looks on pace ,so why is the redbull always difficult to extract performance for second driver

It doesn't help that RB has always had the mentality to not want to upset Max with a good second driver. Objectively, no one believed TSU nor SAI had any chance at that seat because they would have put up a good challenge to Max, which would have upset Max. Simple as that. Other teams don't have that mentality and hence, they always have better second drivers. Just the reality. It's the RB culture at the moment.

That's not true, when Ricciardo left suddenly, they brought in Gasly (earlier than they would have liked) as sticking to their philosophy of promoting within the Red Bull program. When he failed they brough in Albon as a replacement (again earlier than they would have liked) and when he also failed to deliver, they looked outside the Red Bull family.

Perez was coming off a very strong 2020 season and generally at the time was considered one of the strongest and most consistent drivers of the midfield teams - it was obvious why he was hired at the time. It's also been confirmed by Red Bull and Norris that they tried to hire him a year or so ago to replace Perez, but he rejected them.

They most likely didn't hire Sainz due to the fact he actively left the Red Bull group at the end of 2017 and the Sainz family tried to play a lot of political games with Red Bull back in 2017 which pissed off Horner/Marko - so I doubt he ever ends up near the team while they're still in charge.

[Alexf1]

how does Lawson compare to max ,from the limited running we had he look a step behind .kimi on the merc straight away looks on pace ,so why is the redbull always difficult to extract performance for second driver

It doesn't help that RB has always had the mentality to not want to upset Max with a good second driver. Objectively, no one believed TSU nor SAI had any chance at that seat because they would have put up a good challenge to Max, which would have upset Max. Simple as that. Other teams don't have that mentality and hence, they always have better second drivers. Just the reality. It's the RB culture at the moment.

That's not true, when Ricciardo left suddenly, they brought in Gasly (earlier than they would have liked) as sticking to their philosophy of promoting within the Red Bull program. When he failed they brough in Albon as a replacement (again earlier than they would have liked) and when he also failed to deliver, they looked outside the Red Bull family.

Perez was coming off a very strong 2020 season and generally at the time was considered one of the strongest and most consistent drivers of the midfield teams - it was obvious why he was hired at the time. It's also been confirmed by Red Bull and Norris that they tried to hire him a year or so ago to replace Perez, but he rejected them.

They most likely didn't hire Sainz due to the fact he actively left the Red Bull group at the end of 2017 and the Sainz family tried to play a lot of political games with Red Bull back in 2017 which pissed off Horner/Marko - so I doubt he ever ends up near the team while they're still in charge.

Sainz will never drive a Red Bull car again: https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/1990 ... -feeds-you

[Henri]

https://x.com/notracingpoint/status/1896616683659472981 redbull admit McLaren and Ferrari are quicker

[Wouter]

https://x.com/notracingpoint/status/1896616683659472981 redbull admit McLaren and Ferrari are quicker

.
It says: "This post doesn't exist."

[Sergej]

https://x.com/notracingpoint/status/1896616683659472981 redbull admit McLaren and Ferrari are quicker

Can't see the tweet.

[maxxer]

if they cant fix the curb riding its a real porblem the ferrari has the best engine now and the mercedes second

[maxxer]

if they cant fix the curb riding its a real porblem the ferrari has the best engine now and the mercedes second

[the EDGE]

It doesn't help that RB has always had the mentality to not want to upset Max with a good second driver. Objectively, no one believed TSU nor SAI had any chance at that seat because they would have put up a good challenge to Max, which would have upset Max. Simple as that. Other teams don't have that mentality and hence, they always have better second drivers. Just the reality. It's the RB culture at the moment.

That's not true, when Ricciardo left suddenly, they brought in Gasly (earlier than they would have liked) as sticking to their philosophy of promoting within the Red Bull program. When he failed they brough in Albon as a replacement (again earlier than they would have liked) and when he also failed to deliver, they looked outside the Red Bull family.

Perez was coming off a very strong 2020 season and generally at the time was considered one of the strongest and most consistent drivers of the midfield teams - it was obvious why he was hired at the time. It's also been confirmed by Red Bull and Norris that they tried to hire him a year or so ago to replace Perez, but he rejected them.

They most likely didn't hire Sainz due to the fact he actively left the Red Bull group at the end of 2017 and the Sainz family tried to play a lot of political games with Red Bull back in 2017 which pissed off Horner/Marko - so I doubt he ever ends up near the team while they're still in charge.

Sainz will never drive a Red Bull car again: https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/1990 ... -feeds-you

Never say never in F1

If a men like Ron Dennis & Alonso can kiss & make up after all that happened at McLaren, when they find they need each other, I’m sure a little thing like leaving the RB family wouldn’t get in the way

[Cs98]

if they cant fix the curb riding its a real porblem the ferrari has the best engine now and the mercedes second

Engine performance has been pretty much static since 2023 and it's very even between Honda, Merc and Ferrari. That won't be a big factor unless it's reliability related.

[Paa]

If a men like Ron Dennis & Alonso can kiss & make up after all that happened at McLaren, when they find they need each other, I’m sure a little thing like leaving the RB family wouldn’t get in the way

Yeah, but Sainz is not an Alonso. I rate Sainz high, but still if you want a driver like him, there are at least 5-6 options, maybe more. You can go with any of those and get similar results so you don't have to find a way to make peace with him. However, if you want an Alonso, you need Alonso. There are no alternatives so you either make peace with him, or you won't have it.
That's the difference between the good and the great.

To get back to somewhat ontopic. This is exactly the reason why RedBull kept Max against Sainz. One is unique, the other is replaceable. If they decided to side ways with Sainz back then, I see no reason why to go back to him now.