2025 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[venkyhere]

Was it the 'max dna' of the car ? was it a case of first-full-season nerves ? was it a case of missing out FP3 and then getting caught unawares straight into Q, after they made overnight changes from friday ? or was it a combination of two or more of all this ?

What if Lawson does well in a wet race tomorrow ? what happens then, to all the naysayers ?
Why are we jumping to conclusions so quickly ? Let's evaluate Lawson after 4-5 races.

[Juzh]

Verstappen left some time on the table in S3, but not enough to challenge pia/nor.

[organic]

Max said he felt comfortable in the car and "at one" with it. If they can add performance then there's a chance we can compete. As it stands McLaren are too fast but the car is a good base

[chrisc90]

Verstappen left some time on the table in S3, but not enough to challenge pia/nor.

I think it was a error into turn 13? that lost 'some' the time to McLaren. Then coming out the final right hander got a bit of wheelspin which compromised the entry to the final turn. (at least thats what was shown on the F1TV analysis).

Not 4 tenths worth, but a decent factor in it.

[Cs98]

No error, just the tyres dropping off/overheating in S3. It has been a consistent issue throughout the weekend for both cars. They didn't even improve in S3 from their time in P3. You could see on Lawson's lap he just lost all grip in S3.

[Sergej]

Great race by Max and "good" pace from the car. But we are MILES away, McLaren will walk this championship.

[Cs98]

Great race by Max and "good" pace from the car. But we are MILES away, McLaren will walk this championship.

It's reminiscent of what we saw in the second half of last season, the McLaren has more grip and is better at preserving its tyres. Max can hustle the car for a while to keep up, but then the tyres start dropping and there's no coming back from there. Will be interesting to see a full dry stint and some other tracks to see just how big the gap is.

[Sergej]

We will have a much better picture in 7 days on a "normal" track at Shanghai (good weather predicted for all the weekend). But I fear that McLaren will be even stronger there...

ah, on a negative note: Liam already started cutting down the budget...

[organic]

Marko is talking about the car making a big step between races 3 and 5. I'll believe it when I see it

[Bill]

it didn't make steps with 15 or so changes it wont make much impression with whatever they have next ,just like last year

[Jdn1327]

That mclaren looks very dominant. A lot like the 2023 RB...unless someone makes a big step I don't see anyone challenging them on a clear weekend. In China I see them finishing half a minute ahead of a very good Max...he's always been the difference

[f1isgood]

RB19 had it's strength tracks like Bahrain but it also had weakeness relatively speaking around street tracks like Monaco, Australia for instance.

RB19 didn't have enough overpace in Australia to easily pass like the McLaren's did for what it's worth. Max won by ~10s and others were closer. McLaren's car is much more rounded in general and that has been true already since last year. Of course, results wise it'll be hard to beat RB19.

In any case, RB19's success was due to an obviously great car with consistent advantage but also a very consistent driver and an operations team that was on point. This McLaren dominance feels more like Mercedes years to me where the pace advantage alone ensures other factors didn't matter as much. Also, RB19 was on par at multiple races towards the tail end. The other teams simply failed to capitalize -- Brazil, Qatar, Vegas for instance. Of course others developed their cars and McLaren were already showing signs back then. But now this year no one will bother with development and McLaren should have an easy time winning unless they magically get caught which I doubt will happen.

[f1isgood]

Marko is talking about the car making a big step between races 3 and 5. I'll believe it when I see it

We haven't had one "big, performance improving" upgrade since Spa 2022. Even then I don't know if the car was upgraded more or Ferrari was downgraded more.

In any case, if this was Wache I would be more willing to believe as his assessment so far has been pretty good in my view with respect to pace.

I am not holding my breath for this. Might come off as negative but it's too much gap for anyone to close. Need a full new car like Mclaren did last year to have a shot. And soon enough at it as well.

[f1isgood]

Great race by Max and "good" pace from the car. But we are MILES away, McLaren will walk this championship.

It's reminiscent of what we saw in the second half of last season, the McLaren has more grip and is better at preserving its tyres. Max can hustle the car for a while to keep up, but then the tyres start dropping and there's no coming back from there. Will be interesting to see a full dry stint and some other tracks to see just how big the gap is.

I have a strange feeling that at high speed tracks the issue won't be as pronounced. I expect McLaren advantage to maybe be 3 tenths instead of half a second at say Japan for instance.

[f1isgood]

No error, just the tyres dropping off/overheating in S3. It has been a consistent issue throughout the weekend for both cars. They didn't even improve in S3 from their time in P3. You could see on Lawson's lap he just lost all grip in S3.

The tire management could have been made worse because Red Bull ran low downforce for this race. A least lower than others.