2023 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[mzso]

RB-Ford latest update: https://racingnews365.com/exclusive-hor ... owertrains

- Priority is RB and AT supply for 2026, no customers.
- Plan is 450-475 staff
- A 4 cylinder engine was proposed...but abandoned.


Summary of the 2023-2025 PU:

"Initially we were going to have a licencing deal with Honda to build their engines under licence," Horner explained.

"The more you dug into it, their IP, trying to work with Japanese suppliers, it would have been impossible.

"So in the end, thankfully – due to the good relationship we have with Honda – we contracted their services to the end of 2025, whilst focusing on the new set-up for 2026.

"Initially it was going to be a four-cylinder engine and a very different architecture, so it would have been a clean sheet for everybody. Whereas, basically, what we've ended up with is a current engine without the H [MGU-H] and a bigger battery.

This almost always seems to be the case with F1. Talk-up something revolutionary or drastic. Then end up delivering something with very little or no meaningful differences, just for appearances.

[lio007]

I guess there has been some $$$ involved:
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mars ... /10480490/

Rob has been with us for 17 years and he's been an instrumental player in the building of Red Bull Racing.

But over recent years, he's moved on to other projects, and hasn't been on the mainstream of F1. And after 17 years, he had a significant offer from McLaren. And whilst he still had a period of time left on his contract, he was keen to go back into F1.

And so we've came to an agreement with him, and I negotiated a deal with Zak that worked for everybody.

He's been working in Red Bull Powertrains of late, but again his work is pretty much complete in the projects he was doing there.

So it felt right and McLaren could come to a commercial agreement with us that was reasonable enough for us to say we'll let him join in January.

[Cassius]

I guess there has been some $$$ involved:
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mars ... /10480490/

Rob has been with us for 17 years and he's been an instrumental player in the building of Red Bull Racing.

But over recent years, he's moved on to other projects, and hasn't been on the mainstream of F1. And after 17 years, he had a significant offer from McLaren. And whilst he still had a period of time left on his contract, he was keen to go back into F1.

And so we've came to an agreement with him, and I negotiated a deal with Zak that worked for everybody.

He's been working in Red Bull Powertrains of late, but again his work is pretty much complete in the projects he was doing there.

So it felt right and McLaren could come to a commercial agreement with us that was reasonable enough for us to say we'll let him join in January.

What is more interesting is that basically he was already sidetracked from the F1 team because of the budget cap, spending time with Powertrains. So it is clearly less of a loss for RB than the loss of Fallows.

[lio007]

I guess there has been some $$$ involved:
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mars ... /10480490/

Rob has been with us for 17 years and he's been an instrumental player in the building of Red Bull Racing.

But over recent years, he's moved on to other projects, and hasn't been on the mainstream of F1. And after 17 years, he had a significant offer from McLaren. And whilst he still had a period of time left on his contract, he was keen to go back into F1.

And so we've came to an agreement with him, and I negotiated a deal with Zak that worked for everybody.

He's been working in Red Bull Powertrains of late, but again his work is pretty much complete in the projects he was doing there.

So it felt right and McLaren could come to a commercial agreement with us that was reasonable enough for us to say we'll let him join in January.

What is more interesting is that basically he was already sidetracked from the F1 team because of the budget cap, spending time with Powertrains. So it is clearly less of a loss for RB than the loss of Fallows.

But I'm sure he's still an excellent engineer.
For sure quite a bit of knowledge moved to Aston Martin but for the RBR-cars, as we can see, Enrico Balbo seems an adequate successor.

[AR3-GP]

I guess there has been some $$$ involved:
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mars ... /10480490/

Rob has been with us for 17 years and he's been an instrumental player in the building of Red Bull Racing.

But over recent years, he's moved on to other projects, and hasn't been on the mainstream of F1. And after 17 years, he had a significant offer from McLaren. And whilst he still had a period of time left on his contract, he was keen to go back into F1.

And so we've came to an agreement with him, and I negotiated a deal with Zak that worked for everybody.

He's been working in Red Bull Powertrains of late, but again his work is pretty much complete in the projects he was doing there.

So it felt right and McLaren could come to a commercial agreement with us that was reasonable enough for us to say we'll let him join in January.

What is more interesting is that basically he was already sidetracked from the F1 team because of the budget cap, spending time with Powertrains. So it is clearly less of a loss for RB than the loss of Fallows.

I think that where Mclaren will gain from the hire is not neccessarily in knowing the exact details of the current generation RB cars, but from knowing what a top engineering team looks like from the inside. He can tell Mclaren where their organization lacks compared to RB. Whether Mclaren can fill those deficiencies is another matter entirely.

[ME4ME]

Regardless if Marshall worked at Red Bull Racing, Red Bull Technology or Red Bull Powertrains, his contribution would've been beneficial to the overall performance of the car 2026 and onwards. His expertise is in integration, so it'll be a loss for the team now that they're going to do the entire car in-house. They did however hire plenty of senior engineers over the last 24 months, so surely they'll be able to reorganize efficiently.

[Wouter]

https://f1-insider.com/formel-1-sergio- ... rko-56960/

Red Bulls Marko: "Perez's place is not at risk!"

With fourth place, Sergio Perez (33) beat himself in the last Formula 1 race when his teammate Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen won. The result: rumors about the future of the Mexican. There was even speculation on the Internet about a dismissal later this season.

Marko to F1 Insider: "It's all nonsense. Sergio's place has never been in jeopardy and will never be in jeopardy. It is an important element in achieving the goals we have set for this year. We want to finish 1st and 2nd in the drivers’ championship and become Constructors’ World Champion as quickly as possible.”

Marko's advice to his number two: "He should therefore concentrate on himself and not try desperately to hit Max. And he should be there when things aren't going optimally for Max. Sergio's good race after the failed qualifying session in Barcelona was again the first step in the right direction."

But Marko knows that total triumph is almost impossible. "In terms of sheer performance, we're capable of that," he admits. “After all, it's not an exaggeration to say that we're going into all the races as favorites. But then you shouldn't have bad luck. And with 15 races still to go, something happened quickly. It could get us in Montreal next week. The probability of realizing this dream only increases if both cars are capable of winning.”

[TNTHead]

https://f1-insider.com/formel-1-sergio- ... rko-56960/

Red Bulls Marko: "Perez's place is not at risk!"

With fourth place, Sergio Perez (33) beat himself in the last Formula 1 race when his teammate Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen won. The result: rumors about the future of the Mexican. There was even speculation on the Internet about a dismissal later this season.

Marko to F1 Insider: "It's all nonsense. Sergio's place has never been in jeopardy and will never be in jeopardy. It is an important element in achieving the goals we have set for this year. We want to finish 1st and 2nd in the drivers’ championship and become Constructors’ World Champion as quickly as possible.”

Marko's advice to his number two: "He should therefore concentrate on himself and not try desperately to hit Max. And he should be there when things aren't going optimally for Max. Sergio's good race after the failed qualifying session in Barcelona was again the first step in the right direction."

But Marko knows that total triumph is almost impossible. "In terms of sheer performance, we're capable of that," he admits. “After all, it's not an exaggeration to say that we're going into all the races as favorites. But then you shouldn't have bad luck. And with 15 races still to go, something happened quickly. It could get us in Montreal next week. The probability of realizing this dream only increases if both cars are capable of winning.”

This makes perfectly sense. Only when they are in panic they would swap a driver mid season. A few less optimal races is not enough for them to panick (hopefully).

[ME4ME]

With Verstappen winning nearly every race, it's incredibly hard for any other team to beat RBR in the constructors championship. Perez can do a mediocre job every weekend and they'll still win. Its just that every other weekend, it will look like a waste of a seat.

But also, Red Bull doesn't have better driver to replace Perez with.

Realistically they should continue to boost Perez's confidence while he has a contract, and then see if they can get Norris, or Leclerc or whoever is available and deemed an upgrade to the team.

Actually the drivers under real pressure from Marko should be the Alpha Tauri drivers. Red Bull need to quickly find their next talent. It's time for them to put Liam Lawson to the test in 2024. Someone has to be axed. Likely de Vries.

Red Bull also need to decide what they want to do with Ricciardo. Only way to know his "status" is by giving him some tracktime and not just a test but actuall qualifying sessions and races. - At Alpha Tauri. Again de Vries in danger.

Yuki Tsunoda has been quite impressive at times and is much improved. But he's a Kvyat type of driver, not sure if Red Bull wants to gamle like that again. Also he's likely no improvement compared to Perez, so again no pressure for Perez.

[mendis]

They can replace Devries with Daniel at AT after a couple of races and let him set into competitive mode again and see if he has lost his speed. If he turns out to be consistently faster than Yuki and with some impressive results, then he is good to get into RB team for next year and move Perez to AT. Then they can see if they still want to keep Yuki or go with Liam.

[chrisc90]

Norris had the chance to walk into the team before he signed his McLaren contract til 2025. Perez is at RB until 2024. I really don’t think RB could realistically afford to buy out Norris from his current contract and pay out Perez on his contract to bring him in early.

For me, so far this season Perez hasn’t really given any truly stand out performances. Yes he’s had a couple of wins, but the likes of Australia, Monaco, Barcelona show the consistency isn’t quite there yet in getting a podium finish each race weekend.

Both Horner and Marko have said that the pressure is off Perez now that the gap has opened up between Max and Checo. So maybe Checo was feeling a bit of pressure in being close in points with Max? I’m sure the recent performances have been noted by the team and words will have been said that it’s going to be very hard to fight for a championship alongside Max. So we want you to take less risk and bring the car home on the podium each weekend. Which will work out better for him as if Max slips up with a reliability issue or a bad result then the gap closes up pretty well, especially if Max is outside the top 3.

[organic]

For me, so far this season Perez hasn’t really given any truly stand out performances.

Baku and Saudi were standouts, especially Baku tbf. But they are his best tracks so it isn't hugely surprising that this is where he has excelled. He's reverted to the norm as more regular tracks have been raced, and for RB's current position that norm is enough and rather convenient

[chrisc90]

Baku and Saudi were the couple of wins I mentioned.

Agree though, he does seem to do better at the street tracks, shame we never got to see Monaco given the Q1 crash.

What we need is him to be on the podium each weekend. If the Mercs have made a decent step forward with their upgrades then Checo has to be in front of them. Hopefully we get a better indication across the next couple of weekends to his pace.

I do wonder though, how much of the setup is chosen by drivers. Max seems to nail the setup 99% of the time and checo never really seems like he’s fully happy in the car. I do wonder if Checo chooses his own route, rather than going more along the lines of Max’s setup choices.

[organic]

We know he builds his own setup and has done for a while. I believe he started doing his own setups after the first 6 races of 2021 and said he started feeling more comfortable with his own setups after Silverstone.

Sometimes it goes so wrong such that the team will put Max's setup on checo's car for fp2 such as in Barcelona (according to Marko) but I believe this has gone the other way in the past too so it's not a one way street.

Checo is better on rear limited circuits and worse at front limited tracks due to his driving style and the W14 seems to be best suited to front limited circuits due to its weaker rear end. We're likely to see a trend across the rest of the season wherein checo will easily be p2 at more rear limited tracks (Singapore, COTA) and be amongst the others at other circuits (Silverstone, Suzuka, Zandvoort )

[Wouter]

They can replace Devries with Daniel at AT after a couple of races and let him set into competitive mode again and see if he has lost his speed. If he turns out to be consistently faster than Yuki and with some impressive results, then he is good to get into RB team for next year and move Perez to AT. Then they can see if they still want to keep Yuki or go with Liam.

.
Helmut Marko recently said that Ricciardo was a lot slower than Max and Perez in the simulator at Milton Keynes.
How much slower he wouldn't say, but Perez didn't have to worry about being replaced by Ricciardo.