2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[gearboxtrouble]

Mercedes haven’t been good around here even at their peak. Their preferred car characteristics make them unsuitable for Monaco and any harvesting advantage they have is meaningless here. I don’t think this is anything more than a damage limitation exercise for them. Mclaren’s issues are a huge surprise. Their car is seemingly perfect for this sort of track and I would have bet money on Lando in particular being a threat to the Ferraris.

[avantman]

Seems better than anything we have seen in the GE era (except 2022 maybe) from Red Bull around Monaco.
Maybe a podium is within reach.

2022? you surely mean 2023.

[euv2]

Think the biggest factor in performance so far has been getting temperature into the tires, whilst also not overheating the brakes. Ferrari seem to be the ones getting consistent laps, RBR were trying every strat possible, double cool, double push, triple push.

Also left wondering what could have been if the car was at min. weight, at least this increases my hope that the Austria package might make the car really competitive.

[venkyhere]

The pace is real, GP told Max that he was 0.1s off Ferrari pace on mediums fuel corrected.

Won't be enough to beat Ferrari but beating the Mercedes and MCL would be huge.

I am suprised, unless they have made the 6kg overweight disappear. On a non-flowy, stop-start track like this, excess weight can cause a big delta, so just 1 tenth off Ferraris sounds a bit far fetched. From the camera shots at swimming pool 2nd chicane, it didn't look like Ferrari or Max were leaving anything on the table. Hence my surprise. Because from FP1 data, it definitely looked like Max was losing ~0.3s in the Hotel/Lowes hairpin alone.

[avantman]

The pace is real, GP told Max that he was 0.1s off Ferrari pace on mediums fuel corrected.

Won't be enough to beat Ferrari but beating the Mercedes and MCL would be huge.

I am suprised, unless they have made the 6kg overweight disappear. On a non-flowy, stop-start track like this, excess weight can cause a big delta, so just 1 tenth off Ferraris sounds a bit far fetched. From the camera shots at swimming pool 2nd chicane, it didn't look like Ferrari or Max were leaving anything on the table. Hence my surprise. Because from FP1 data, it definitely looked like Max was losing ~0.3s in the Hotel/Lowes hairpin alone.

You forgot about a driver worth of a couple of tenths extra at least.

[organic]

How can the car be this quick already... This chassis is going to be a beast

[Valeo]

Who is this imposter and what did he do Max?

[euv2]

The pace is real, GP told Max that he was 0.1s off Ferrari pace on mediums fuel corrected.

Won't be enough to beat Ferrari but beating the Mercedes and MCL would be huge.

I am suprised, unless they have made the 6kg overweight disappear. On a non-flowy, stop-start track like this, excess weight can cause a big delta, so just 1 tenth off Ferraris sounds a bit far fetched. From the camera shots at swimming pool 2nd chicane, it didn't look like Ferrari or Max were leaving anything on the table. Hence my surprise. Because from FP1 data, it definitely looked like Max was losing ~0.3s in the Hotel/Lowes hairpin alone.

The weight reduction is definitely coming in Austria, they've confirmed it themselves I think. It's possible RBR might have shaved off some weight compared to others who are already at min. weight, by removing actuators, blanking of hydraulic lines etc. to FW and RW.

Performance in sectors is still being dictated by tires, Ferrari's have a 19.1 in the 1st sector but on their best laps they could only do 19.2-3 but they pushed more in the final 2 sectors.

[venkyhere]

Who is this imposter and what did he do Max?

This.
This is the only 'metric' I use to judge the car.
Direct words from the ace driver. Has proven to be the only reliable 'info' about the car, right from 2024 onwards.
Not laptime analysis videos, not opinion pieces written in F1 media, not the broadcaster analysis sessions.
He is probably the only driver on the grid, who doesn't downplay/overplay the state of the car, always blunt honesty.

[venkyhere]

Interesting observation from a crude glance of FP2 laptime telemetry :

- Both Ferraris matched in terms of entry/exit points in the corners
- Verstappen prioritizes entry and sacrifices exit (w.r.t the Ferrari braking/rotation/throttle points) into every single corner, which results in no nett gain/loss, until the last corner
- After clearing Rascasse, at the last corner, this 'late braking tradeoff' proves detrimental for the 'straight' run to the start/finish and results in time loss for Verstappen.

Two opposite philosophies perhaps signifying the difference between the SF26 and RB22 - stronger rear v/s stronger front.

[AR3-GP]

Paul Monaghan, chief engineering, car engineering of Oracle Red Bull Racing, said after Friday's free practice sessions in Monaco: "We were quite satisfied with our performance today. But our position in the second free practice doesn't mean we'll finish in P1: we'll have to work hard tonight and the drivers will obviously have to perform at their best tomorrow. We will work on improvements to the car that will hopefully make it a little better, but other teams will also work hard, so we'll see."

Monaghan added: "Max was pleased with the performance of the car and his feedback was concise. Tonight we will work on maximizing the best possible result for tomorrow. It will be exciting and I expect some teams to be quite fast, so we will do our best to get a good result and try to finish on the front row."

https://news.verstappen.com/nl/article/ ... um=twitter

[organic]

[Badger]

Interesting observation from a crude glance of FP2 laptime telemetry :

- Both Ferraris matched in terms of entry/exit points in the corners
- Verstappen prioritizes entry and sacrifices exit (w.r.t the Ferrari braking/rotation/throttle points) into every single corner, which results in no nett gain/loss, until the last corner
- After clearing Rascasse, at the last corner, this 'late braking tradeoff' proves detrimental for the 'straight' run to the start/finish and results in time loss for Verstappen.

Two opposite philosophies perhaps signifying the difference between the SF26 and RB22 - stronger rear v/s stronger front.

Sounds like a bugged trace with a slight offset between the cars you are comparing. Wouldn't read into it.

[Badger]

The car is showing flashes of a good chassis beneath, but I wouldn't celebrate just yet. Ferrari could take the front row and Merc could easily find a few tenths overnight. I still think it's more likely that Max qualifies P5 than P1.

[avantman]

Realistically Max is much closer to Mercedes than Ferrari.