2025 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[Waz]

Since 2014, only Nico Rosberg has won the Spanish GP other than Hamilton and Verstappen.

And if he keeps his Podium / Non Podium streak going, Barcelona is due a podium, which is more often a win with Max.

[AR3-GP]

I'm expecting that Red Bull will use the Monaco rear wing in Barcelona. I think it was a compromise for Monaco (slightly lower load than previous seasons), to have a more ideal wing for Barcelona, Hungary, and Zandvoort. It would not make sense to focus developments on Monaco.

They also might continue with the larger front brake duct exit. I think that was introduced for other reasons, and my interpretation of certain limitations in the race was that it worked well.

[f1isgood]

I was seeing front wing flex at Qatar pole lap last year and also at this year's pole laps. Last year the wing doesn't bend. End of story. This year I think we have as much bending as the McLaren's. Not sure we will gain anything. Prayers it is going to be.

[Sergej]

A clause in Max Verstappen's contract to exit the Red Bull team for 2026 will close as long as he is within the top four of Formula 1's world drivers' championship by the end of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, Autosport understands.

The four-time world champion is currently third in the standings, 57 points clear of fifth-placed Charles Leclerc, and should Verstappen stay over 50 points ahead by the close of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, the exit clause understood to exist in his current contract will no longer be valid.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/verst ... /10727773/

[Aesop]

A clause in Max Verstappen's contract to exit the Red Bull team for 2026 will close as long as he is within the top four of Formula 1's world drivers' championship by the end of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, Autosport understands.

The four-time world champion is currently third in the standings, 57 points clear of fifth-placed Charles Leclerc, and should Verstappen stay over 50 points ahead by the close of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, the exit clause understood to exist in his current contract will no longer be valid.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/verst ... /10727773/

I think Marko recently said there were no performance related exit clauses.

[f1isgood]

A clause in Max Verstappen's contract to exit the Red Bull team for 2026 will close as long as he is within the top four of Formula 1's world drivers' championship by the end of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, Autosport understands.

The four-time world champion is currently third in the standings, 57 points clear of fifth-placed Charles Leclerc, and should Verstappen stay over 50 points ahead by the close of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, the exit clause understood to exist in his current contract will no longer be valid.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/verst ... /10727773/

I think after 8 races, while we should not be fully satisfied, the technical team have produced a car, that in Max's hands could have won 3 races out of 8. Last year we went on a much worse drought, so I would say they have recovered okay all things considered, having had the pace to win Brazil, Qatar, Suzuka (maybe not), Jeddah and Imola so far.

The car still has terrible weaknesses relative to the McLaren though.

This is good work given that towards the end of the season Ferrari and Mclaren were clearly one step ahead of Red Bull and sometimes even Mercedes were. Barcelona might make me reconsider the stance however should we get destroyed though

[venkyhere]

A clause in Max Verstappen's contract to exit the Red Bull team for 2026 will close as long as he is within the top four of Formula 1's world drivers' championship by the end of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, Autosport understands.

The four-time world champion is currently third in the standings, 57 points clear of fifth-placed Charles Leclerc, and should Verstappen stay over 50 points ahead by the close of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, the exit clause understood to exist in his current contract will no longer be valid.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/verst ... /10727773/

I think after 8 races, while we should not be fully satisfied, the technical team have produced a car, that in Max's hands could have won 3 races out of 8. Last year we went on a much worse drought, so I would say they have recovered okay all things considered, having had the pace to win Brazil, Qatar, Suzuka (maybe not), Jeddah and Imola so far.

The car still has terrible weaknesses relative to the McLaren though.

This is good work given that towards the end of the season Ferrari and Mclaren were clearly one step ahead of Red Bull and sometimes even Mercedes were. Barcelona might make me reconsider the stance however should we get destroyed though

Slow speed rotation. That has very little to do with aero, but a lot to do with mechanical design of front & rear axles, diff settings for rear axle etc. Not all tracks are like Barcelona where it's fully flowing. Even if a track has many high speed corners but just one or two low speed corners (for example Suzuka with it's chicane and hairpin) and the Redbull is 10% faster in the high speed and 10% slower in the low speed => since more 'actual time slice' elapses through the low speed corner, there is nett loss in laptime. The uglier, 'doesnt look sexy' slow speed rotation is the holy grail of laptime. That is where McLaren is leagues ahead of anyone else on the grid, thanks to their 'black magic' front suspension design by Rob Marshall.

[f1isgood]

A clause in Max Verstappen's contract to exit the Red Bull team for 2026 will close as long as he is within the top four of Formula 1's world drivers' championship by the end of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, Autosport understands.

The four-time world champion is currently third in the standings, 57 points clear of fifth-placed Charles Leclerc, and should Verstappen stay over 50 points ahead by the close of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, the exit clause understood to exist in his current contract will no longer be valid.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/verst ... /10727773/

I think after 8 races, while we should not be fully satisfied, the technical team have produced a car, that in Max's hands could have won 3 races out of 8. Last year we went on a much worse drought, so I would say they have recovered okay all things considered, having had the pace to win Brazil, Qatar, Suzuka (maybe not), Jeddah and Imola so far.

The car still has terrible weaknesses relative to the McLaren though.

This is good work given that towards the end of the season Ferrari and Mclaren were clearly one step ahead of Red Bull and sometimes even Mercedes were. Barcelona might make me reconsider the stance however should we get destroyed though

Slow speed rotation. That has very little to do with aero, but a lot to do with mechanical design of front & rear axles, diff settings for rear axle etc. Not all tracks are like Barcelona where it's fully flowing. Even if a track has many high speed corners but just one or two low speed corners (for example Suzuka with it's chicane and hairpin) and the Redbull is 10% faster in the high speed and 10% slower in the low speed => since more 'actual time slice' elapses through the low speed corner, there is nett loss in laptime. The uglier, 'doesnt look sexy' slow speed rotation is the holy grail of laptime. That is where McLaren is leagues ahead of anyone else on the grid, thanks to their 'black magic' front suspension design by Rob Marshall.

You are right with where the McLaren is better than the Red Bull but I'll not attribute everything to one person - in this case Rob Marshall. The technical team there was shrewd enough to choose the right suspension design and they were already the best at slow speed rotation even last year -- well before Marshall could have had any tangible impact.

Also, I don't think at any track except for Miami has Red Bull been quicker than the McLaren's in high speed to be honest. At Suzuka, Max broke that much later than Lando before the last chicane and won the pole right there. He also took massive risk at Degner-1 going the fastest that any F1 car had gone there if I am not mistaken. Also, I think rear-limited tracks are still a weakness for this Red Bull car, as we will see in Austria.

There's clearly something McLaren are doing better than every other team since Miami last year -- gaining massively in slow and medium speed corners and that wasn't much to do with their suspension design alone. They changed a lot of things on that car at Miami but I don't remember suspension being a part of it. They were super OP at high speed before that and transformed with a much better compromise for lap time.

Red Bull this year still lack in medium speed but they are okay at slow speed corners, except when the track is fully slow.

I also think the RB21 pre-Miami/Imola upgrades is objectively a much worse car in every way but we will see if I am right.

[venkyhere]

Also, I don't think at any track except for Miami has Red Bull been quicker than the McLaren's in high speed to be honest. At Suzuka, Max broke that much later than Lando before the last chicane and won the pole right there. He also took massive risk at Degner-1 going the fastest that any F1 car had gone there if I am not mistaken. Also, I think rear-limited tracks are still a weakness for this Red Bull car, as we will see in Austria.

At Bahrain, Jeddah and Imola - sector1 with high speed direction changes, the Redbull (or Max) was faster. Yes, not in the Suzuka esses (strangely) and agree with how he won the pole there. Yes, agree that rear-limited tracks are a weakness, but again that boils down to rear suspension design (anti lift in braking, anti squat in acceleration), diff settings window available etc - it all points to 'mechanical' rather than aero. That was my point.

[f1isgood]

Also, I don't think at any track except for Miami has Red Bull been quicker than the McLaren's in high speed to be honest. At Suzuka, Max broke that much later than Lando before the last chicane and won the pole right there. He also took massive risk at Degner-1 going the fastest that any F1 car had gone there if I am not mistaken. Also, I think rear-limited tracks are still a weakness for this Red Bull car, as we will see in Austria.

At Bahrain, Jeddah and Imola - sector1 with high speed direction changes, the Redbull (or Max) was faster. Yes, not in the Suzuka esses (strangely) and agree with how he won the pole there. Yes, agree that rear-limited tracks are a weakness, but again that boils down to rear suspension design (anti lift in braking, anti squat in acceleration), diff settings window available etc - it all points to 'mechanical' rather than aero. That was my point.

Yeah fair points.

On the other hand, I do sometimes wonder if Red Bull's early advantage meant they didn't get to pick the most viable path late in the regulations -- after all, when you are winning and have fewer weaknesses than others, you are bound to go the same path - while McLaren being nowhere with loads of resources and tunnel time and personally pouring in from other top teams had a better vision of the ultimate potential these regulations. In the end, you look at four years and Red Bull have already come out on top so can't blame them really especially given they spent basically 75 percent of the regulations and even before this regulation with the least tunnel time of anybody.

Because Mercedes couldn't change like McLaren did, neither could Ferrari, nor could Red Bull. All had better starts than the Papaya team. Feels like they were all short-sighted in the sense that what they saw ultimate didn't pan out as the most complete set of things that work these regulations.

[AR3-GP]

On the other hand, I do sometimes wonder if Red Bull's early advantage meant they didn't get to pick the most viable path late in the regulations -- after all, when you are winning and have fewer weaknesses than others, you are bound to go the same path - while McLaren being nowhere with loads of resources and tunnel time and personally pouring in from other top teams had a better vision of the ultimate potential these regulations. In the end, you look at four years and Red Bull have already come out on top so can't blame them really especially given they spent basically 75 percent of the regulations and even before this regulation with the least tunnel time of anybody.

Because Mercedes couldn't change like McLaren did, neither could Ferrari, nor could Red Bull. All had better starts than the Papaya team. Feels like they were all short-sighted in the sense that what they saw ultimate didn't pan out as the most complete set of things that work these regulations.

Red Bull did try something different with the RB20. Mercedes tried something different with the W13. It didn't work out for either of them but they both spent additional time trying to stay the course to unlock the potential they believed was there.

In Mclaren's favor: (1) A better windtunnel (2) More windtunnel time, (3) Correlation, (4) Rob Marshall