Red Bull have estimated that they are sitting behind Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari in terms of outright performance after the opening pre-season test in Bahrain, despite the “remarkable job” done by the team’s new power unit division.
Red Bull head into the 2026 campaign – and F1’s new era of regulations – having designed both their car and engine in-house for the first time, with Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar talking up the powertrain’s performance and reliability.
Reflecting on Red Bull’s first three days in the Sakhir desert, Technical Director Pierre Wache said: “It has been a positive week, running a full day with Max, with plenty of testing time as we worked on understanding the car and the direction to go in with the power unit.
“Unfortunately, on day two we had some problems with the hydraulics on the chassis side, which compromised Isack’s running in the morning, but we were able to recover this in the afternoon.
“[On Friday] morning with Max we evaluated set-ups and saw some good direction and this was similar with Isack [in the] afternoon, so it’s been quite positive with the mileage done.
“We need to make sure the car continues to develop a lot more to improve the issue on the balance side, and we know that there is a lot of room for improvement. Our drivers are very motivated and have given us a lot of feedback on where we can improve the car and how we can change the direction of development.
“In general, Red Bull Ford Powertrains has done a remarkable job as a start-up; in three-and-a-half years we have created a power unit and have it out running on track, which is fantastic.”
Wache then offered some thoughts on the early 2026 pecking order, putting Red Bull fourth overall at this point – even if it follows a trend of teams pointing to their rivals.
“The second step is to see where we are sitting compared to others and improve,” he continued. “There were a few teams which were clearly very quick [on Friday] and it looks like we are behind, so there is still a lot to improve. Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari are there at the top.
“It is a massive learning curve, there are plenty of unknowns and a lot to do. We have been evaluating our weaknesses and strengths and are just focusing on improving the car. We go into [the second test] looking at what we can bring to the car to make it better and solve the issues we have identified.”
Bahrain plays host to the final 2026 pre-season test from Wednesday to Friday this week.
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