Intense development war? Red Bull predict ‘incredibly high rate’ in all-new F1

Racing all-new cars and engines in Formula 1’s biggest regulatory overhaul ever, Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies is predicting an “incredibly high rate” of progress in F1 2026’s development war.

Red Bull became the first team to unveil its livery for the upcoming season as the team took the covers off a showcar of the RB22, revealing a glossy blue colour scheme that harked back to Red Bull’s first season in Formula 1 back in 2005.

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Since then the team has gone on to win eight Drivers’ Championship titles, four apiece for Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen, and six Constructors’ crowns.

Last season the team’s reign came to an end as McLaren and Lando Norris bagged the double despite a heroic fightback from Verstappen that saw him win six of the final nine grands prix to close to within two points of the title.

This year, it’s anyone’s guess who will come out on top as the sport is undergoing the biggest regulatory reset in its history.

Introducing smaller, lighter cars that incorporate active aerodynamics, Formula 1’s engine regulations are also changing, with a new power unit formula that uses a new-generation of 1.6-litre V6 hybrid that run on sustainable fuel and increases electrification to a 50/50 split with the internal combustion engine.

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With none of the teams aware of the others starting point, never mind the pecking order, the development war will begin even at the very first behind-closed-doors test in Spain later this month.

Mekies expects an intense battle.

The Red Bull team principal told Sky Sports News: “We are going to be in an incredibly high development rate season, both on the chassis side and on the power unit side.

“We believe in our people, and therefore the fact that we’ve put together what we believe is an extremely strong team with extremely strong partners.

“You have seen last year on a season that as the last year of a regulations cycle, you could still see how much the team could do through the season in terms of development,” he said.

“We’ll take that for 2026 multiplied by three or four in terms of development rate, certainly for us in terms of how much we have to learn. So we take it step by step but with the right level of aggressiveness.”

The challenge that awaits Red Bull is greater than it is for some of its rivals as this season the team will race its first-ever in-house power unit, designed by Red Bull Powertrains with technical input from Ford.

Having previously stated that Red Bull is “not naive” about the mammoth task, Mekies added to Sky: “We know it’s going to come with some difficulties. We know we are going to have quite a few sleepless nights and a few headaches, but please bear with us for the first few months.

“Nobody underestimates the size of the mountain that we have to climb. It’s the sort of challenge we all want to be associated with, and hopefully, eventually we will come out on top.

“I think it would be naive, to say the least, for us to think that, yes, we have done everything from zero – with great support from Ford – and then we turn up at the first race and we are the same level as people that have been doing it for many years.

“It’s not going to be like that, we are going to be trailing them.”

Formula 1 will host the first group test with the new cars beginning January 26th in a behind-closed-doors outing before the teams will head to Bahrain for the first open test with media and fans able to see the cars in action. That runs from 11 to 13 February with a second Bahrain outing from 18 to 20 February.

The F1 2026 season will begin with the Australian Grand Prix on March 8.

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