Author Archives: PressBox

Racing Bulls used an unexpected five-week break to push two upgrades into back-to-back introductions, shifting a planned Bahrain package to Miami and following it with a larger Montreal package two weeks later. Cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix and F1’s enforced pause created the gap, and team principal Alan Permane said it was a logistical compromise that could not carry every element forward at once; the Miami update was largely superseded by the larger Montreal package.

The pause unlocked unplanned engineering and assembly opportunities. Freight returning from Japan allowed chassis work and full-car assembly at Faenza and let the design office review components earlier than planned. Racing Bulls embedded powertrain engineers with designers to better optimize the in-house Red Bull–Ford unit, and the team will tweak power-unit operations ahead of Miami to maximize the benefit of the rapid hardware changes. Permane said the approach re-linked design and trackside operations and gave some race staff time off while cars were reassembled and checked.

Racing Bulls arrived at the break having scored points in Melbourne, Shanghai and Suzuka, including points in both the Shanghai sprint and main race, and the team expects the twin updates to help it move toward the top of the midfield. Sources describe the new Red Bull–Ford power unit as still in its infancy but promising, and the team acknowledges it still needs more raw speed and downforce under compressed development cycles that have created trade-offs around battery use and corner-entry balance. The team will prioritize efficient, targeted upgrades, adaptability and reliability to exploit the North American and Canadian rounds. Drivers Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad worked on individual programs during the break, and team officials said the pairing is working well. The FIA and teams were also discussing tweaks ahead of Miami aimed at flattening qualifying and reducing closing speeds.

Red Bull announced a technical reorganization as it confronts a poor start to the 2026 season and a string of senior departures. High-profile moves include Gianpiero “GP” Lambiase, who has agreed to join McLaren in 2028; the recent exits of Rob Marshall and Will Courtenay to McLaren; and earlier departures of Adrian Newey, Jonathan Wheatley and, in 2025, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko. Sky Sports F1 pundits warned of a widening “brain drain” and Karun Chandhok urged technical chief Laurent Mekies and Red Bull’s Austrian ownership to act, suggesting the recruitment of a marquee figure, potentially from Mercedes, to help retain and attract talent.

Red Bull promoted Ben Waterhouse to chief performance and design engineer, reporting to technical director Pierre Wache. Reports conflict on timing, with some saying the change is immediate and others saying it takes effect on July 1. The team approved internal promotions and external hires to manage succession and preserve performance. Andrea Landi will join Red Bull on July 1 as head of performance, joining from Racing Bulls and having previously held senior vehicle-performance roles at Ferrari, and he will report to Waterhouse. The team described the moves as an “evolution” intended to tighten integration between design and vehicle performance and accelerate development.

On the track, Red Bull sits sixth in the Constructors’ Championship with 16 points after three rounds, 119 points behind leaders Mercedes. Both drivers have complained about handling and balance of the R22. Max Verstappen has 12 points, with a season-best finish of sixth in Australia, and Isack Hadjar has four. Red Bull also introduced its first in-house engine this season. With the Miami Grand Prix due May 1-3, the team faces immediate pressure to translate the technical changes into improved competitiveness.

Niels Wittich, a former Formula 1 race director, publicly defended Michael Masi’s handling of the controversial safety-car finish at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, saying “Michael didn’t do that much wrong” and calling Masi a “scapegoat”. Wittich said Masi was following a collective mandate from teams, the FIA and Formula 1 to try to finish races under green flags. He said the failure of FIA leadership to back Masi left him exposed to public abuse and death threats and ultimately to removal from his role, which Wittich called unacceptable.

Wittich recounted the key late-race sequence: Lewis Hamilton led by more than 11 seconds when Nicholas Latifi crashed with six laps remaining, Max Verstappen pitted for new soft tires while Hamilton stayed out on used hards, and on lap 57 of 58 Masi allowed the five lapped cars between Verstappen and Hamilton to unlap themselves and immediately instructed the safety car to pit. That move produced a final-lap, winner-takes-all restart that enabled Verstappen to pass Hamilton and clinch the championship. Wittich acknowledged the sequence conflicted with the strict letter of Article 48.12 but said the regulations left discretionary room and that allowing only those five cars to unlap themselves was within Masi’s authority under the circumstances. He dismissed a red flag as an obvious alternative and said focusing solely on Abu Dhabi ignored that the 2021 title was contested over 22 races.

The controversy prompted an FIA inquiry that attributed the outcome to “human error,” after which Masi was stood down and later removed from his FIA role. Masi left the FIA in July 2022 and later worked for Motorsport New Zealand and the New Zealand Championship. Wittich, who stepped down as an F1 race director toward the end of the 2024 season, criticized the FIA for failing to defend its employee and contrasted the response with past backing under Charlie Whiting and Max Mosley, saying the handling of Masi has reignited debate over governance and decision-making in the sport.

Earlier this week the FIA, Formula 1 and the 11 teams agreed to push changes to the 2026 power‑unit, battery and energy‑management regulations ahead of the Miami Grand Prix to address safety, performance and qualifying issues. The decision followed a high-speed crash in Japan that intensified safety concerns after Haas driver Oliver Bearman was involved. A high-level meeting on Monday was followed by an electronic vote and an F1 Commission decision. F1 chief Stefano Domenicali and Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane supported the effort; they said tweaks could be introduced at Miami, but officials stressed changes will be iterative rather than a single overhaul.

Teams and regulators blamed the problems on the new 2026 package, which shifts power‑unit output toward a near 50-50 split between the internal combustion engine (ICE) and a much larger hybrid element, introduces lift-and-coast energy management and active aerodynamics, and mandates advanced sustainable fuels. Those measures increased overtaking but forced drivers to back off in the fastest corners to recharge batteries several times per lap, diluting qualifying and creating dangerous speed differentials. Permane highlighted excessive harvesting and “super-clipping” that left cars running out of battery on straights. Teams also warned that the Sprint format and the Monaco schedule leave little opportunity to trial complex fixes.

Proposals under consideration include raising the super-clipping charge rate from 250 kW to 350 kW, cutting peak electrical deployment from about 350 kW to near 200 kW, and reducing the battery’s permitted energy store. A more extreme option, supported by Red Bull, would increase ICE fuel flow. Regulators and teams acknowledged that battery- and deployment-focused fixes would mitigate symptoms but would not fully eliminate the yo-yo pass-and-repass effect; only a meaningful increase in ICE power would address the root cause, but that carries short-term technical, competitive and logistical complications and is therefore unlikely this season. Permane and FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis signaled a possible staged rollout across races, with simpler measures likely at Miami and more extensive testing planned in Montreal and Barcelona.