2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[euv2]

The only positive is, RBPT instead of rushing bit part updates to components, will have time to look at the whole thing and plan out a comprehensive update/larger redesign all in one go. I'm hoping that what Ben Hodgkinson said holds out to be true and the lead time of making engines will make it difficult to bring major in season updates, esp. for someone like Mercedes who have to homologate engines for all 4 teams, that is a lot of new engines to be built in-season.

On the other hand, I've seen marked improvement of the RB22 in medium speed corners in Monaco, Max was either the fastest or pretty close, granted there's some Max factor involved. If it translates to Barcelona, then they'll be much closer on these types of corners than they were before Miami.

[Badger]

The only positive is, RBPT instead of rushing bit part updates to components, will have time to look at the whole thing and plan out a comprehensive update/larger redesign all in one go. I'm hoping that what Ben Hodgkinson said holds out to be true and the lead time of making engines will make it difficult to bring major in season updates, esp. for someone like Mercedes who have to homologate engines for all 4 teams, that is a lot of new engines to be built in-season.

On the other hand, I've seen marked improvement of the RB22 in medium speed corners in Monaco, Max was either the fastest or pretty close, granted there's some Max factor involved. If it translates to Barcelona, then they'll be much closer on these types of corners than they were before Miami.

Except they will not be allowed to touch the electrical components for 2027 whereas people with ADUO can upgrade every part of the engine 2 or 4 times. This is why this whole “ICE only” talk falls flat, Merc is going to be able to rehomologate their entire ERS system, RBPT can’t touch theirs. ADUO is not fit for purpose.

[FittingMechanics]

Strange how ADUO seemed fit for the purpose when it was assumed Mercedes would be the the strongest ICE?

[Badger]

Strange how ADUO seemed fit for the purpose when it was assumed Mercedes would be the the strongest ICE?

Assumed based on real life dominant performance and what everyone in the paddock was saying all year? Yeah, the purpose of ADUO was obviously as an equalising mechanism for on track performance, not to enhance the best engine on the grid based on a covert measurement process that no one understands, that also doesn’t square with reality.

But what really makes ADUO not fit for purpose is what I said about it allowing for ERS upgrades when it’s explicitly marketed as an ICE measurement. If Mercedes is truly 2% behind on their ICE (which is ridiculous), they must have an incredibly strong ERS system. So why should they be allowed to upgrade that too when RBPT can’t touch it?

[euv2]

The only positive is, RBPT instead of rushing bit part updates to components, will have time to look at the whole thing and plan out a comprehensive update/larger redesign all in one go. I'm hoping that what Ben Hodgkinson said holds out to be true and the lead time of making engines will make it difficult to bring major in season updates, esp. for someone like Mercedes who have to homologate engines for all 4 teams, that is a lot of new engines to be built in-season.

On the other hand, I've seen marked improvement of the RB22 in medium speed corners in Monaco, Max was either the fastest or pretty close, granted there's some Max factor involved. If it translates to Barcelona, then they'll be much closer on these types of corners than they were before Miami.

Except they will not be allowed to touch the electrical components for 2027 whereas people with ADUO can upgrade every part of the engine 2 or 4 times. This is why this whole “ICE only” talk falls flat, Merc is going to be able to rehomologate their entire ERS system, RBPT can’t touch theirs. ADUO is not fit for purpose.

Edit: updated image
Fed chatgpt the PU regs pdf to see what's allowed for baseline vs ADUO. The system seems really inadequate, with the lagging teams given too much freedom, the benchmark team should have been allowed to redesign all parts for the yearly homologation along with the ADUO teams but without extra allowances. The current system will very likely result in rubberbanding.

The only good thing is they'll be measuring PU performance 3 times a season, so I guess if RBPT fall behind they'll be awarded ADUO too.

[Badger]

The only positive is, RBPT instead of rushing bit part updates to components, will have time to look at the whole thing and plan out a comprehensive update/larger redesign all in one go. I'm hoping that what Ben Hodgkinson said holds out to be true and the lead time of making engines will make it difficult to bring major in season updates, esp. for someone like Mercedes who have to homologate engines for all 4 teams, that is a lot of new engines to be built in-season.

On the other hand, I've seen marked improvement of the RB22 in medium speed corners in Monaco, Max was either the fastest or pretty close, granted there's some Max factor involved. If it translates to Barcelona, then they'll be much closer on these types of corners than they were before Miami.

Except they will not be allowed to touch the electrical components for 2027 whereas people with ADUO can upgrade every part of the engine 2 or 4 times. This is why this whole “ICE only” talk falls flat, Merc is going to be able to rehomologate their entire ERS system, RBPT can’t touch theirs. ADUO is not fit for purpose.

https://postimg.cc/cg1Z7WDW

Fed chatgpt the PU regs pdf to see what's allowed for baseline vs ADUO. The system seems really inadequate, with the lagging teams given too much freedom, the benchmark team should have been allowed to redesign all parts for the yearly homologation along with the ADUO teams but without extra allowances. The current system will very likely result in rubberbanding.

The only good thing is they'll be measuring PU performance 3 times a season, so I guess if RBPT fall behind they'll be awarded ADUO too.

That’s old. In the latest version all those battery components at the bottom are green checkmarked for ADUO. Makes no sense.

[euv2]

Except they will not be allowed to touch the electrical components for 2027 whereas people with ADUO can upgrade every part of the engine 2 or 4 times. This is why this whole “ICE only” talk falls flat, Merc is going to be able to rehomologate their entire ERS system, RBPT can’t touch theirs. ADUO is not fit for purpose.

https://postimg.cc/cg1Z7WDW

Fed chatgpt the PU regs pdf to see what's allowed for baseline vs ADUO. The system seems really inadequate, with the lagging teams given too much freedom, the benchmark team should have been allowed to redesign all parts for the yearly homologation along with the ADUO teams but without extra allowances. The current system will very likely result in rubberbanding.

The only good thing is they'll be measuring PU performance 3 times a season, so I guess if RBPT fall behind they'll be awarded ADUO too.

That’s old. In the latest version all those battery components at the bottom are green checkmarked for ADUO. Makes no sense.

Yeah, updated it. I wonder what the logic was in not allowing baseline updates to all components in the 1st year and the alternating updates every other years.

I guess the teams accepted it because PU performance is going to be checked often, not allowing any 1 team to run away with it but the 1st year is unfair to the benchmark team, esp. since they allow updates for 2 years instead of 1. So, theoretically Mercedes could use the 2nd update to jump RBR next year and it would take RBR another year to catch up.

[CjC]

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.

*outlandish reaction I made after the 2025 Las Vegas GP*

oh, god.

[Emag]

I mean, the teams have better data than us, but they also would normally have no clue about the actual numbers from rival teams. They can just make better approximations, but there shouldn't be a way for Mekies to know exactly how many hp the Mercedes ICE specifically would have.

That is of course if you don't believe there's gossip around in the paddock and engineers are leaking numbers to each other. In my opinion not very realistic, as I would imagine the people who work in this industry are incredibly competitive to the point where the NDA might not even be a requirement.

Just because someone says they have X hp, does not mean it gives any tangible advantage to another manufacturer to know that. It is like Hamilton said. Engine development has a very long lead time. It will take Ferrari 8 to 10 months to use their tokens. So some gossip that someone has extra 25hp doesn't do anything. They have no insight to how that is achieved at a technical level. It doesn't change the course of another team's season.

Everyone and their dog had been talking about the Mercedes PU before 2026. Verstappen who was talking to Toto had come to understand they have a very good power unit, and we can see on the track the strength of all Mercedes customer teams on the power tracks. So there's no reason to reinvent the wheel, and nothing that has been said before is untrue.

This is just is a quirk of a blindfolded selection process.

In my opinion, having a real target is a huge help in the budget cap era. It helps you focus your resources.

But nevermind that, I think people are quick to claim foul play when decisions are not what they expected. I believe the FIA is simply not very competent and these seemingly flawed decisions come only from that, not because of nefarious activities in the background. If anything, FIA historically tries to “punish” dominations.

[AR3-GP]

Very good summary of the current problems by Jonathan Noble. Make no mistake. Mercedes has the best PU. The ADUO system failed as a catchup mechanism.

The consequences of F1's shock Red Bull ADUO verdict

Mekies did not want to talk about the verdict on Sunday night in Monaco.

It has long been understood that ADUO is based entirely on the power of the internal combustion engine element only, so does not take into account the harvesting and deployment elements, nor battery efficiency that are so critical to laptime.

The ADUO outcome is one that, rather than helping Mercedes' rivals catch up as they had hoped, could now ultimately end up hurting them in keeping the status quo or even resulting in them falling further away.

Sources suggest that the ruling will almost certainly trigger demands to ditch ADUO completely, or change the way in which performance is measured to incorporate more aspects than simply internal combustion engine power.

[Paa]

I did not realize earlier that the ADUO is based on measuring solely ICE output. I always assumes that electric output is also factored in somehow.
This is outright idiotic.

But blame is not only on FIA, I do not understand how teams agreed to such a simplistic approach.
These freeze + catch-up systems are always unfair in a way, but this current system is on the more idiotic end of the spectrum. If they wanted to avoid development war with gigantic spending, they could have just introduced a budget cap for all engine suppliers and maybe play with the allowances a bit if somebody is far ahead/behind.

But allowing to develop a complex system based on only measuring 1 part is just seems moronic. These are the things that make me don't want to watch the "sport".

[AR3-GP]

As a result of the ADUO decision, Red Bull's rookie hybrid system is frozen until 2028. The others will get 1 upgrade in 2026 and 1 upgrade in 2027. Hybrid system upgrades were a fundamental battleground in 2016-2022 where manufacturers made use of the in-season upgrades that was permitted in each season. Honda published white papers on their MGU-K, control electronics, and energy store development. The energy store, the control units, and the MGU-K are a significant development battleground that Red Bull will not have this year or next year.

Imo the failed ADUO outcome is enough for Red Bull to write off 2027.

Honda’s newest ESS, fully developed in-house, has remarkably lower loss, during times of high current flow in particular, compared to ESSs of the past due to its lower resistance. From a different perspective, this means it provides an increased level of usable energy. And with greater resistance to deterioration compared to older ESSs, with a minimal drop in output, the greater the distance traveled, the greater the difference in performance between the new and old ESSs.

Due to higher efficiency and lower loss in the new ESS, the MGU-K and MGU-H can be deployed for a longer period of time on the drive side compared to previous ESSs, even if energy recovery levels are the same. (Deployment refers to the assist focused on in mass production development, while harvesting is a term sometimes used by Honda and others, when developing F1 power units, for the recovery of energy.) The volumetric output density (W/kg) of the new ESS introduced in the 12th round of the 2021 season is 1.3 times greater than that of the ESS used in 2020 and 2021 seasons. Using the 2015 ESS as the base, the 2021 ESS is 26% smaller and 15% lighter, which contributes greatly from the perspectives of energy management and optimizing vehicle driving performance.

https://global.honda/en/tech/motorsport ... train_ESS/