Where Red Bull holds key F1 2026 advantage – according to rival

Mercedes’ George Russell remains convinced Red Bull holds a key advantage over the rest of the field heading into the 2026 Formula 1 season.

F1 2026 has seen major aerodynamic and power unit regulations introduced that place greater emphasis on energy recovery and battery harvesting, which will play an important tactical factor during grands prix.

Red Bull has for the first time created its own F1 engine and its rivals have been impressed by its performance and reliability.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff labelled Red Bull as “the benchmark” during pre-season testing and claimed data he has seen suggests the new Red Bull power unit could be over a second faster per lap on the straights.

Russell has echoed his team boss’s verdict on Red Bull’s first-ever F1 engine and is adamant it is the “best on the grid” in terms of deployment.

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“Their deployment definitely still looks the best on the grid, which is kudos to them and I think was a bit of a surprise to everybody,” Russell said on the final day of pre-season testing in Bahrain.

“So I think let’s see come Melbourne [season opener in March] how things shake up. I think the Mercedes-powered teams have made a lot of improvements since day one of Bahrain last week, so that gap has closed drastically.

“But we’re obviously day six of Bahrain testing now, whereas in Melbourne you’ve got three hours of practice – and that’s the main point of the concern.”

Red Bull rubbish ‘benchmark’ tag

Meanwhile, Red Bull has been quick to dismiss the favourites tag it has been handed by Mercedes, and suspects the German manufacturer is holding back significant pace to unleash once the season starts.

Asked where Red Bull thinks it stands in the competitive order, technical director Pierre Wache replied: “It’s difficult to say. We are not the benchmark, for sure.

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“We see clearly the top three teams, Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren are in front of us, it looks like, from what our analysis is, and we are behind. But there is where we think we are at the moment.

“It’s difficult to say about the others, because the run time of everybody, the level of fuel they run, the level of power they run, it’s difficult to say, but it’s currently our analysis that it could be wrong.

“We don’t spend too much time on that, we try to focus on how to improve our work.How happy are you with your own work? I’m never happy with my own work.

“Clearly we have some improvement to do, some challenges around this type of regulation, with the level of oil that is quite low, the level of downforce very low, and the challenge to manage the traction at a low speed is very high, and that is one of the key.”

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen went as far as to accuse Mercedes of extreme sandbagging. 

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The cloak and daggers approach taken by F1 teams has only added to the mystery surrounding the true pecking order, which is set to be revealed at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on 8 March. 

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