Red Bull Has Reached A New Low

Red Bull may have cracked it grip-wise…and McLaren aren’t doing a thing about it.

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Red Bull’s RB21 has gone from a pity case to a true contender, or even the fastest car on the grid right now. The clues and experts point to a smarter way of running the car lower without incurring the wrath of the FIA. As a result, Max Verstappen has cut Oscar Piastri’s lead by two thirds and outscored both McLaren drivers since August. Under Laurent Mekies the team has gone rather quiet and rival voices like Andrea Stella aren’t crying foul!

What does this mean for 2026? Is this bad for the RB successor? Yes and no. Things change but other things will stay the same.

#f1 #maxverstappen #formula1 #formulaone #landonorris #oscarpiastri #papayarules #mclarenf1team #mclarenf1 #redbullracing #laurentmekies #yukitsunoda #verstappen #f1news #f1latest #f12025 #f1updates #f1drivers #f1drama #usgp #mexicogp #mexicangp

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McLaren Thought It Was Over…Then Red Bull Did THIS

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So, it’s come to this then, huh? I can’t believe Red Bull would go this low. Literally, because whatever they’ve done to the ride height, it certainly worked. I think it’s safe to say the F1 world has been stunned into silence by Red Bull’s rebound from their 2025 crisis, which peaked around Silverstone. And this year’s car’s surge in pace has definitely silenced talk of the monster that came before it in 2024. You can also tell that the stappen is impressed by this turnaround by his own comment stating that if you had told me that I would still be in contention now I would have said you were an idiot. The turnaround is real folks and it’s coming straight from the flying Dutchman’s mouth and uh it’s not just a ladder man’s ramblings or anything. You might be thinking I’m abandoning my boy by saying this but quite frankly this season’s title battle has really come off as something really artificial, orchestrated, manipulated. It just doesn’t sit well with our gutal instincts in terms of a good Formula 1 fight. Well, now what the Stappen’s been able to do and what Red Bull’s been cooking in the background has produced a gourmet result and it’s getting us really excited again. I’m seeing it in the metrics, the optics, what people are saying. It’s something that is causing a lot of hype. The fact that Max Vstappen and Red Bull legally have been able to do something that has resulted in Pestre’s advantage over Vstappen being cut by 2/3 in the time we’ve been back from the summer break. That is insane. Statistically and mathematically, the comeback really makes sense. And we’ve still got sprints left, my friend. And Max Fappen owns sprints. And it’s just making us go back to if only he hadn’t lost his rag at the circuit to Cataloonia. And we’re heading into a race weekend where Max Stapen completely owns the circuit. He has the most amount of wins over anyone else with a car that has very much been able to dial itself into the weather conditions, the track conditions, as well as the altitude because that’s going to be very important this weekend. And it is the car itself which is the main focus as to why Red Bull’s suddenly gotten so powerful. It’s akin to the uptick in performance that we saw in 2023 with the MCL60 rapidly becoming the fastest car in 2023 come Abu Dhabi. And it also might explain why we have seen Red Bull pouring upgrade after upgrade not just in terms of refining the process which I’ve talked about in previous videos. It might actually go on to explain fundamentals which will carry over into next year and why we have seen so many frontwing patches as well as that floor upgrade in Monza. What’s also surprising is how quietly Red Bull has handled all of this. Under Christian Horner, you would have imagined that every single upgrade and its results would have been broadcast around the world to unnerve their rivals. But when a team that used to brag all the time is now maintaining relative radio silence, it usually means that they found something they don’t want to talk about. But it is starting to seep out. We are seeing the results. And that is really unusual restraint for a serial championship team. It’s a real change of character which I think has actually had the benefit of unnerving their rivals. But clues have now started to come about as to what has happened especially around the circuit of the Americas which ride height has been very much a hot topic in previous outings as well as the plankware debate which we had a couple of years ago with Hamilton andlair and articles from total motorsport and motorsport.com have talked to various representatives which have really clued into what Red Bull has actually been doing but the team itself has not actually gone yeah we did this what do you think about that the most we got was a mischievous Well, exactly. You’re not wrong in that aspect of things. You got Helmet Marco being cheeky and a little bit koi, which is a little bit weird and uh very, very sickening to think about. But it might explain why Red Bull’s got a far more stable car. And with McLaren not resuming development in order to respond to this surge, this does set the stage for a barntormer of a finale to a season which many, including the Stappen, assumed would be a McLaren procession. Instead, we’ve got a nailbiter. All three drivers could be in contention for this world title. And all three drivers now stand to gain a lot more kudos than what would have been said had we actually discussed this back in the summer. The Stappen being able to overcome the deficit to Pastri and take his fifth world title in a row would ascend to generational domination. Everyone would become a Stappen fan. If Pastri and Norris, either one of them is able to hold back the incoming storm that is Max Vistappen, they themselves will be patted on the back saying, “Good job, guys. You were not afraid of Max Vstappen’s comeback. You deserve a really comfortable winter break.” So, everyone stands to gain. Everyone’s a winner here. All stemming from what Vstappen said, a different philosophy when describing this around the time of the Italian Grand Prix. Now, of course, we’ve heard plenty in regards to procedure changing over at that time with her going over to Mechy’s’s watch. Relying more on driver feedback than what the computer spits out was one of them. I mean, at least until the new wind tunnel comes online next year and it can be properly recalibrated. And it does seem that the initial fruit of that particular change of mood has really started to come out of the woodwork with Andreas Stella himself deducing something that McLaren themselves might have perfected initially, as in yeah, it takes one to no one. So, here are Stella’s words for your consideration. And no, he is not accusing the team of cheating. He’s basically nodding his head and going, “Clever him.” If they have improved their car, it’s because they might have fixed some potential aerodynamic issues. Their driver seems to be much more vocal about ride and grounding. So, it could be that they have simply understood that this generation of cars needs to be run challenging some aspects like ride heights. If I had to speculate, that’s where I put my dollar. Now, you’re not getting McLaren’s boss suddenly going, “Quick, Red Bull’s found something. Run for your lives.” No, no, no, no, no, no. They’re not scared. It’s more like they go, “Ah, okay. I see what they did there.” All right, cool. We’re not afraid, though. We’re not going to resume development on this car. We are thinking about 2026. They’re trying to keep their cool McLaren, and I appreciate them for doing that. It’s going to make things a lot more spicy, especially if Max continues to reel them in. And what basically Stellar has said is that they’ve been listening to the drivers and therefore they’ve been able to find some extra suck in terms of the ground effect when it comes to the rear end of the car. And as we have found out during this regulation cycle, the lower you can run the car, the better. As we’ve seen in the opposite, Ferrari having to ride it a little bit higher than average has resulted in them being very uncompetitive in relation to Mercedes and Red Bull and them actually missing out in various key aspects due to the flexi wing changes around Barcelona. Ferrari can’t have their car running as low as their rivals because it could lead to potential plank wear which got them disqualified in China. Therefore, it makes their job a lot harder to try and make up for that in other areas. Or they just simply didn’t think to implement changes that the RB21 might have been going through to mean that they have a car that is a lot grippier without running the risk of breaching the rules regarding plank wear or being subject to porposing. And then motorsport.com’s article talking to Salva sporting director Inyaki Roueda goes into a little bit more detail as to what Red Bull might have done and is a lot more straightforward about it. So here are his words for your consideration. It is inherent in the car. You try to make it so that your weak point doesn’t get as loaded as possible. Whichever team has managed to put it to the front, that means they are actually able to run the car lower than the rest of us. So this is something quite clever. they would get a competitive advantage. Most of the downforce comes from where the driver is sitting toward the back. So that’s where you really want the floor to be close to the ground. A lot of design effort has been sent on trying to migrate that way to the front so that you can run it low. But it’s not an easy task. That challenge links to the suspension and kinematics. You need to find a way that you’re still running all the downforce at the back, but that your main point of contact is at the front. So what is saying here is that whatever Red Bull’s done, it’s not been some quick fix. It’s required a lot of effort to get things down to the point where it’s resulted in Bstappen being on the podium constantly again. And that maybe Red Bull has joined McLaren in finding the ultimate cure for what we all thought was going to be an ongoing trend throughout you being able to running it low. That being said, this is all happening before a regulation change and ground effect will become a thing of the past or at the very least a far less critical factor of the car. But Ga’s comments point to what the final race to the finish of 2025 will look like that it’s a mechanical chase to find that last bit of mechanical grip instead of a grip and how you can run the car on the weekend itself. Operational improvements. And it makes me think that Red Bull will continue to refine this process which means that they can run their car really really low at all the remaining circuits and at the circuits which are relatively billyard smooth. They could be really really quick here and maybe around the likes of Vegas where there are organic bumps especially down the long strip. This could be absolute gold for them which provides them a little bit of a defense to what we saw with Mercedes last year when they were the dominant figures. And it’s really important that this worked around Austin because as we’ve discovered throughout its tenure, the Circuit of the Americas is very, very bumpy. It’s a constant battle between the track organizers and the track itself to iron out the bumps, actually shave them off as it’s built on a marsh. It undulates all the time. It’s a constant struggle. And you are going to expect surprising bumps. And seemingly Red Bull’s trick works. They didn’t get in trouble with the FIA. We didn’t hear any investigations made by the governing body at all. So, whatever Red Bull has produced, it worked and it may continue to work and it could be even better at other circuits. So, you know, do watch this space, folks. It could be enough to counteract where McLaren could be dominant once more. And no, this is not some sort of favoritism here or some sort of, you know, sapping from the cup of copium or anything like that. This is just down to the laws of physics. As in something we have been told time and time again by various engineers. If you can run your car low, then you are going to extract the most amount of performance. And Red Bull have clearly been able to run that car lower than McLaren. But to be fair, it does very much seem like around the paddock McLaren did come up with this kind of concept first. Red Bull are not game changers or innovators or anything. They’ve just been able to replicate whatever McLaren has done. or they might have managed to find a workflow which works with their package instead of just bolting on a McLaren copy and then trying to work around it. Something which is a little bit more efficient. And this is something that has been steadily improved race by race. That might be why we’ve seen so many upgrades added to the car as well as trying to refine the process in time for 2026 when they get some extra equipment. And most importantly, this has all happened without the watchful eye of Adrien Newi. That is really important for the technical department which we all derided last year. We were all calling for the heads of Pierre Vashe, myself included. This could be some really important validation and it could easily save a lot of people at Red Bull their own jobs. They may not need to look elsewhere because well they might have it good where they already are. It also means that they can be trusted by Lauren Mecky’s and Helman Marco to develop the car in a manner which can offer Max plenty of pace in the race in a quicker fashion and that he stays with them throughout their contract with him. And again, this uptick in pace is very similar to what we saw with the MCL60. There was a very rocky situation with the RB20 in the immediate aftermath of New Departure, but they have been able to stabilize and go around again. Perhaps this might be down to junior figures within the team being promoted up to more senior levels and having the chance to have innovations of their own that might not have been seen if Adrien Newui remained with the squad and you had that relative constant. I mean, okay, this is a spanner of speculation element here since I do not work for Red Bull. But it might provide an inkling that maybe new minds and new perspectives have come on board and they’ve been able to work with Pierre Vash and his team and produce an RB21 which Max is clearly happy with and producing results where now his win tally is equal to Lando Norris and has the potential to eclipse Oscar Pastries. Sure, it’s going to be a miracle to reach double figures, but it’s still going to be a really titanic effort even if the Stafen doesn’t win the world title. That at least he has ended this regulation cycle with having the majority of Grand Prix wins. And it’s proof that the team can outgrow the genius which have been around with them since 2006. They can move on. And I I still believe what’s gotten some people flustered is that Red Bull’s ridden really shy about naming one magic bullet as it were above anything else saying that it’s the entire team that has improved that it’s not one fix. There are valid considerations though that multiple things have changed since well Lauren Mecky’s approach to things has definitely gotten a lot of people’s validation and with the fact that Helmet Marco’s being relatively shy and quiet about this really gets people intrigued as to what Red Bull is doing here. It’s enough to get people talking about the team in a positive way, in a technical way, a fundamentally more profound way, and in a way which is definitely going to earn respect from those in the F1 community who are more technically minded in that, oh right, cool. They figured that out. Or, oh, they made that. So, that means that Y and X. Oh, okay. They’re not causing drama. Or the drama they are causing is resulting in wins and podiums and fighting back in the championship. Things that many people in F1 can get behind and fully understand. What they’re doing works and is above board. And you’re seeing it throughout the entire world. Whenever we go to tracks where Max would have been booed to high heaven and curse words thrown his direction, most notably around the American circuits. Now we’re getting absolute cheering. Everyone just amazed and enthralled with what the stappen is doing. They are seeing the racer within him. People really starting to see elements that might have been part of the all-time greats. And no, this is not me glazing Max Vappen. It’s me thinking, me going back through all of the F1 DVDs and the history of Formula 1 that I’m seeing a lot of characteristics that we saw from the races of old that there is a connection to the past that Max is exuding. I’m seeing a lot of Michael Schumacer in him. And I am a Michael Schumacker fan, but I do acknowledge that there were moments where he did really stoop quite low and really bend the rules. And Max does just that. He knows the rules, he bends the rules, and he really stands his ground. And I think all of this press, this respect that Red Bull is gaining is something that they really, really appreciate. All in the midst of McLaren really fumbling, being in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, the controversy of Papaya rules, they’re getting the heat, whereas Red Bull, they’re keeping their head down. And I’m not saying that McLaren are going to crumble, that they are destined for failure. None of that at all. Sure, they are not going to be pressing resume in terms of developing the MCL39. They’ve made that very clear. nor are they actually denying Maxstappen’s credibility and saying, “Oh, he’s not a threat anymore.” They are very much saying that he is a threat. They are very much taking him seriously. Whatever they’re doing, they are entrusting that responsibility to the drivers since this is, well, in their eyes, the World Drivers Championship. They’ve sewn up the constructors, so it’s now up to Lando and Oscar to get it across the finishing line. The only updates that we will have on that car are probably track specific ones, things that we might have seen before, slightly tweaked. We are not going to be seeing fundamental upgrades. No Bspec or C-spec or sudden uptick in FP1. No, we are going to be seeing nothing with the MCL39. And what could be also in Red Bull’s favor is that McLaren’s already optimized their procedures thanks to their shiny new facilities, their wind tunnel, and it means that their work is dedicated solely to the MCL40 next year. That’s a lot of pressure on both Norris and Pastri’s shoulders. But the team do have faith in them to convert. And if they can convert, like I said earlier, in the face of a terrifyingly incredible driver, that is only going to raise their individual stocks. But wait, L, if that means that McLaren have got everything down and they’re really efficient, that whatever Red Bull’s doing right now is going to haunt them next year, yes, that is a very valid consideration. But I don’t think it’s something that Red Bull has completely ignored or in completely ignorant about. And I can also understand that many people have said that the power unit is going to be near the back since Red Bull power trains is totally new. Although we have heard recent news that they are seeing promising results in regards to the engine department. But many people are still speculating that what we saw with Mercedes in 2022 will happen to Red Bull in 2026 if they’re plowing all of their efforts into 2025. Well, I hate to burst your bubble, Red Bull naysayers, but the circumstances between 2022 and 2026 are a little bit different in the fact that the cost cap exists and has been around for a while now. And I know you’re going to be saying that, oh well, the cost cap is increased next year, so they can put more efforts in. No, it’s really to tackle inflation as well as any other costs that have spiraled, and they’re all the boring stuff, not the exciting bits. It will be different. Unlike back then going into 2022, the transition from the W12 to the W13. For them, culture shock really hit them hard and they’ve only now just gotten over it. They can’t throw money and resources at problems anymore. They have to be more clever with their innovations. Next year’s rules overhaul, it changes the car shape and the power units, but not the physics, the fundamental physics. Ride height management and plankware will still define performance in that area, but just to a lesser degree. The rules regarding where and the penalties that come with it, they have not changed. It’s one of the few things within the new rules that is going to be remaining basically unchanged. It just means that ground effect will be far less intricate. It’ll be far less of an issue and the diffuser at the back will be far smaller, meaning that whatever gains you can get there will be far more limited, which means that it’s not as much of a priority. But it’s still very important to have a car which has good su and can get really low in terms of ride height because as we’ve seen in F1’s history since the 1980s when aerodynamics became the top priority. You really want to find gains wherever you can and ideally you want to find gains where it’s really really hard to find them. Except if the car gets hitched up to a crane and then you get everyone going like we kind of saw at the Austin Grand Prix when the McLaren cars were being hauled away. And if Red Bull can continue to innovate and they can run really low, then it means that there’s far less pressure on other aspects of the car to make up for the shortfall. Looking at you, Ferrari. Also, figuring out how to work with the suspension and floor to make all this work could be a great tell for next year. I mentioned this in my 2026 overview with Pirelli’s Insights a while back, but active arrow adds a new layer to proceedings because drivers will be switching between the supposed X mode and Z mode, different downforce wing states on the straights and in the corners. As with the tires, which are going to be dealing with changing pressure in corners, as in they’re going to be squashed and stretched all the time, we are going to be seeing similar elements in the suspension going through all of that as well. Meaning the car is going to pitch and roar and wobble around all the time, millisecond after millisecond. So you really want to get that aspect of the car down pat and fully understand it. Otherwise, you’re going to have a bad time when you’re switching from one thing to another. So you go from that to this and you go like as in the car jutdders. So teams that have got a good read on it or are really starting to get a good read on it will be really good and have a car which is a lot more steady and stable, good balance, especially over the bumps. So, I do think that aspect of the car will carry over into next year’s one. But will Red Bull, despite all of that, stay strong in this field? I do not know since I am not an aerodynamicist. But everything’s pointing to the idea that Red Bull has managed to find something with their car which has provided them good results and the rest of the field has not been spurred back into action in response. They are basically allowing Red Bull to catch up should the RB22 remain stable and well balanced and Max Sappin is happy with it as he might be happy with the RB21 as of now. It tells me that at least in that particular aspect of the car, everything could be fine. It might just be a little anemic in terms of top speed. And it may hint that whatever the team has been able to do, be it potentially copying other teams or making this through their own innovations in house, they have something which Max can work with and keep him in podium places. And with the remaining circuits on the calendar being places where Max has won before at least once, this is a good sign that he can take this all the way to Abu Dhabi. And whilst Meckis is remaining modest, and he is right to point out that other upgrades were green lit before he got the top job, this has still worked out well under his watch. And even though he’s trying to avoid accepting any glory, these actions and upgrades still need to be put on the car. They still need to be approved by him and he still needs to make decisions on race day and during the weekend which then change the course of the team’s future. And once again, Red Bull are not cheating. They are following the rules. No one is crying fowl, not even Andrea Stellar. And for anyone who is a Red Bull fan or a Max fan, this might be a really good sign that whatever’s been happening that Max has said he’s been working closely with the engineers and the aerodynamicists, they are seeing results now within the span of several weeks instead of several months or maybe sometime next year, which is providing us, the viewers, some actual entertainment, as well as something from the delight of seeing the F1 TV directors actually listening to the uh spirited feedback regarding the coverage we saw. in Singapore and the stuff we saw in Austin being far more race focused. It’s certainly easier for the team, but it’s not a guarantee. Max has said that every weekend has to be perfect. There cannot be any mistakes with his own campaign and Red Bull cannot be making the mistakes that we saw with Yuki Cenoda in SQ1 where bad timing from the team’s part meant that he was out in SQ1. Okay, in that situation, we might not have had the heroics of him going from 18th to seventh because he is very much fighting for his life around Red Bull. So they need to be perfect to ensure that whatever decision they make with the drivers is a fair one or at least the fairest it can be possibly be. You know given it’s Red Bull, the junior team’s history and the fact that Helmer Marco is in the room. If they do keep making mistakes then McLaren will ultimately win out because they had done enough in the first half of the season. But still I think we are seeing Red Bull headed in the right direction and your next direction is headed toward this video right here which I think you will like. So I’ll be right back. I’ll get in touch with you over there.