2025 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[AR3-GP]

Regarding the straights, shouldn't the whole laptime be taken into account? We don't know how they are using the deployment and we don't know how much fuel each team uses. In theory, you just do what the simulations say is best. So maybe carrying less fuel and using less engine power is more optimal then carrying more and using more engine power). There are tradeoffs. If you use more power, you need more fuel. If you have more fuel, you are marginally harder on the tires and marginally slower in the corners and braking phases. Each team has its own optimal solution. Overall, despite how much faster Mclaren may have been in a specific part of the race on the straights, it didn't make any impression against Max in the 1st stint. Even with DRS, they were never close to him.

Nah, this amount of advantage is too much for any such shenanigans. I don't believe the whole fuel point stands, there's not all that much discrepancy in the amount of fuel carried by the teams, not in a low deg flatout race such as saudi. And you would never not use full engine power that you at all can, it's always better to carry some more litres, I'm 100% sure all teams are using this tactic. There was no reason not to push the engine flat out.

https://i.imgur.com/ATMKlvt.png

https://i.imgur.com/IwyRJvk.png

https://i.imgur.com/0r3TbKW.png

Honestly, i dont understand why the car was so slow this race on full throttle sections. There seems to be a struggle in both early acceleration and even in energy deployment which is usually honda's strong point, but not this time.

Okay I see. I think it is because Mclaren used a smaller rear wing (similar to Spain last year), Red Bull had a full width mainplane and a steep flap (they trimmed the flap edges to shed some drag later on). So advantage to Mclaren when the DRS is closed. For this, Max had a 2-3 tenths advantage in S1 all race which is where the bigger rear wing would benefit (aside from general differences in car potential).

So as I said, the full laptime has to be taken into account. It would be more concerning if they were slower everywhere (straights and corners). Both teams were playing to their weaknesses. Red Bull fear tire degradation. Mclaren fear a lack of straight line speed.

[euv2]

Regarding the straights, shouldn't the whole laptime be taken into account? We don't know how they are using the deployment and we don't know how much fuel each team uses. In theory, you just do what the simulations say is best. So maybe carrying less fuel and using less engine power is more optimal then carrying more and using more engine power). There are tradeoffs. If you use more power, you need more fuel. If you have more fuel, you are marginally harder on the tires and marginally slower in the corners and braking phases. Each team has its own optimal solution. Overall, despite how much faster Mclaren may have been in a specific part of the race on the straights, it didn't make any impression against Max in the 1st stint. Even with DRS, they were never close to him.

Nah, this amount of advantage is too much for any such shenanigans. I don't believe the whole fuel point stands, there's not all that much discrepancy in the amount of fuel carried by the teams, not in a low deg flatout race such as saudi. And you would never not use full engine power that you at all can, it's always better to carry some more litres, I'm 100% sure all teams are using this tactic. There was no reason not to push the engine flat out.

https://i.imgur.com/ATMKlvt.png

https://i.imgur.com/IwyRJvk.png

https://i.imgur.com/0r3TbKW.png

Honestly, i dont understand why the car was so slow this race on full throttle sections. There seems to be a struggle in both early acceleration and even in energy deployment which is usually honda's strong point, but not this time.

Yeah, you might be right, I also checked it across multiple other laps, RB21 loses on non drs sections too, but was equal or faster in qualy in all straights. In Suzuka for comparison the deltas were the same in the race as they were in qualy, so no weird drop off during the race compared to MCL.

I think RB ran with slightly less cooling and therefore couldn't run the engine on full tilt on a more consistent basis as compared to the MCL. I heard this from GP too, he at one point gave MAX more speed on the straights but a worse turn 22 I think and MAX didn't like it so they reverted to the previous mode.

[langedweil]

Proper analysis from you, Vanja !

Personally I really care more about the fact the RBR could well follow the McL, but I agree with the issue of the FIA inconsistency and dumb/blunt reasoning.