2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[pantherxxx]

Car will be 1 second faster than before.

[euv2]

Rumours are the car will be entirely different (as in modifications across the whole car) , but an evolution of the previous design

Max has also sounded positive in interviews and has shaved for this weekend

All senior management of red bull including Thai owners will attend this weekend

I think they expect to win. I also do tbf, but I don't expect that performance to be consistent track-to-track and I also expect other teams to reovertake with next rounds of changes

But there are favourable circumstances: drag doesn't matter as much, slow corner performance for rbr is good already, and Mercedes will potentially be running detuned due to battery concerns in heat , Ferrari will use Friday to bed in new engine

Mercedes also bringing updates to Austria, Ferrari with new engine + improved fuel. Will be an exciting week for sure. If they can be close to Mercedes and Ferrari this weekend, esp. wrt race pace, it will be a successful week. I'm more confident of a pole than a race win atm, expecting Ferrari to pull ahead in Silverstone and other medium-high corner tracks.

[pantherxxx]

Rumours are the car will be entirely different (as in modifications across the whole car) , but an evolution of the previous design

Max has also sounded positive in interviews and has shaved for this weekend

All senior management of red bull including Thai owners will attend this weekend

I think they expect to win. I also do tbf, but I don't expect that performance to be consistent track-to-track and I also expect other teams to reovertake with next rounds of changes

But there are favourable circumstances: drag doesn't matter as much, slow corner performance for rbr is good already, and Mercedes will potentially be running detuned due to battery concerns in heat , Ferrari will use Friday to bed in new engine

Mercedes also bringing updates to Austria, Ferrari with new engine + improved fuel. Will be an exciting week for sure. If they can be close to Mercedes and Ferrari this weekend, esp. wrt race pace, it will be a successful week. I'm more confident of a pole than a race win atm, expecting Ferrari to pull ahead in Silverstone and other medium-high corner tracks.

Ferrari engine is rumored to be only 7hp stronger. I doubt that will have similar lap time improvement as Red Bull, cause they're bringing like a complete evolution of the car.

[euv2]

Rumours are the car will be entirely different (as in modifications across the whole car) , but an evolution of the previous design

Max has also sounded positive in interviews and has shaved for this weekend

All senior management of red bull including Thai owners will attend this weekend

I think they expect to win. I also do tbf, but I don't expect that performance to be consistent track-to-track and I also expect other teams to reovertake with next rounds of changes

But there are favourable circumstances: drag doesn't matter as much, slow corner performance for rbr is good already, and Mercedes will potentially be running detuned due to battery concerns in heat , Ferrari will use Friday to bed in new engine

Mercedes also bringing updates to Austria, Ferrari with new engine + improved fuel. Will be an exciting week for sure. If they can be close to Mercedes and Ferrari this weekend, esp. wrt race pace, it will be a successful week. I'm more confident of a pole than a race win atm, expecting Ferrari to pull ahead in Silverstone and other medium-high corner tracks.

Ferrari engine is rumored to be only 7hp stronger. I doubt that will have similar lap time improvement as Red Bull, cause they're bringing like a complete evolution of the car.

Yes, but Ferrari have quite a delta to Red bull currently, so every small improvement means Red bull have to find a bit more lap time to be the fastest, besides ADUO allocation means it's area that Red bull will not see any improvement from for the rest of the year, whereas Ferrari will have another big mid-season boost somewhere near Monza. I'm not expecting this update to be a shift in philosophy like Miami was, will be minor improvements to most of the car, which should still be enough to be win competitive.

[organic]

No verstappen announcement of contract extension this week is not a good sign

[Badger]

No verstappen announcement of contract extension this week is not a good sign

His contract runs until 2028 so I am assuming you mean announce that he isn't opting out for next year. But why would he do that now? For him there's no rush and in the next two weekends he will learn a lot about the competitiveness of the RB project. Now seems like a very foolish time to make rash decisions about his future.

[organic]

No verstappen announcement of contract extension this week is not a good sign

His contract runs until 2028 so I am assuming you mean announce that he isn't opting out for next year. But why would he do that now? For him there's no rush and in the next two weekends he will learn a lot about the competitiveness of the RB project. Now seems like a very foolish time to make rash decisions about his future.

Well I think for Red Bull with a Verstappen you have an unusual situation as his contract has a performance-related break clause which they are never going to be able to fulfill this season active imminently.

If verstappen really does see himself committing to red bull, then red bull leadership would extend now and that will be able to provide confidence to their clients, their employees, and their fans who all want to know if max is staying. For them especially when we're talkinggg about the premier driver on the grid and the biggest selling point about the team at the minute.

[Badger]

No verstappen announcement of contract extension this week is not a good sign

His contract runs until 2028 so I am assuming you mean announce that he isn't opting out for next year. But why would he do that now? For him there's no rush and in the next two weekends he will learn a lot about the competitiveness of the RB project. Now seems like a very foolish time to make rash decisions about his future.

Well I think for Red Bull with a Verstappen you have an unusual situation as his contract has a performance-related break clause which they are never going to be able to fulfill this season active imminently.

If verstappen really does see himself committing to red bull, then red bull leadership would extend now and that will be able to provide confidence to their clients, their employees, and their fans who all want to know if max is staying. For them especially when we're talkinggg about the premier driver on the grid and the biggest selling point about the team at the minute.

He will obviously want to see what the upgrades deliver before making a decision.

[Paa]

He will obviously want to see what the upgrades deliver before making a decision.

This is my impression as well. He wants a few races with the new package to see how it goes and then re-evaluate.
I think this will be decided by the summer break.
Even Red Bull says that this is their most important package for the year so this will determine their remaining season.

[Emag]

I admire the loyalty, but he definitely should have gone to Mercedes. Guaranteed 5th title with that car this year for a driver like Max and a very high chance he would have gotten the 6th next year too.

[carisi2k]

I admire the loyalty, but he definitely should have gone to Mercedes. Guaranteed 5th title with that car this year for a driver like Max and a very high chance he would have gotten the 6th next year too.

Except jumping ship like that would be a very bad look for Max and also championships don't make one great. It's the lebrina effect. He has 3 championships but 6 losses in finals and now he just looks like a spoilt brat more then the king he claims to be.

Yeah Max could win championships at Mercedes but they will always have an asterix beside them.

[Badger]

I admire the loyalty, but he definitely should have gone to Mercedes. Guaranteed 5th title with that car this year for a driver like Max and a very high chance he would have gotten the 6th next year too.

Not sure about next year for Merc. I am sensing significant convergence already and this is before RB/McLaren have fully sorted out their chassis and Ferrari their engine. People thought this was going to turn into another 2023 but at the current rate it may become more like 2024. It has to be said that Mercedes' upgrades have been the least impressive so far of the top teams, and they're now having to remove upgrades too.

[De Wet]

I admire the loyalty, but he definitely should have gone to Mercedes. Guaranteed 5th title with that car this year for a driver like Max and a very high chance he would have gotten the 6th next year too.

Except jumping ship like that would be a very bad look for Max and also championships don't make one great. It's the lebrina effect. He has 3 championships but 6 losses in finals and now he just looks like a spoilt brat more then the king he claims to be.

Yeah Max could win championships at Mercedes but they will always have an asterix beside them.

Yes. Just like Hamilton.

[pantherxxx]

+ Don't forget that Red Bull engineers are limited by a wind tunnel that was built in the 50's. If Mercedes or Mclaren or Ferrari would be using same wind tunnel, it's likely they would design a much worse car. Let's see what RB can do with their brand new state of the art facility that's soon operational.

[organic]

He will obviously want to see what the upgrades deliver before making a decision.

This is my impression as well. He wants a few races with the new package to see how it goes and then re-evaluate.
I think this will be decided by the summer break.
Even Red Bull says that this is their most important package for the year so this will determine their remaining season.

Apparently the package is also huge