How a Failed 2024 Upgrade Set Up Racing Bulls' 2026 Success

It is often said in Formula 1 that you learn nothing from success. It's the days you stumble and fail that prove to be far more valuable in making you stronger.

So as Racing Bulls reflects on a robust first half to the 2026 season, emerging at the top of the chasing pack behind the big four teams, it's no surprise to hear them credit an "awful" moment in their recent history for laying the foundations.

A current key strength—the momentum from a sustained upgrade push that hits targets each time—has its origins in a brutal lesson learned two years ago.

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Back in 2024, the then-RB team had been a consistent points scorer, comfortably sixth in the constructors' championship. They arrived at the Spanish Grand Prix in June with a hefty upgrade package: a new rear wing, updated sidepods, engine covers, and a reprofiled floor. But instead of moving forward, the upgrade proved to be a flop.

Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo were eliminated in Q1 at Barcelona, then failed to make an impression in the race. The failure cost RB momentum, and it took until nearly the end of the season to regain faith in their upgrades. By then, Alpine and Haas had leapfrogged them in the standings.

Team principal Alan Permane says under-delivering with upgrades is one of the worst things that can happen. "It's a double penalty, isn't it? Let's say it's four weeks between updates, you put one on and it doesn't work. So you've lost that four weeks, but you've lost more because you don't understand it either. That's awful," he tells The Race in an exclusive interview.

It was the pain of that exact misstep that sowed the seeds of understanding that are paying off this year. "Honestly, one of the reasons we're in this decent shape now is because way back in 2024, we had a huge upgrade for Barcelona, and absolutely no part of it worked at all. It was awful at the time, but we learned an awful lot about that car," he said.

Liam Lawson, enjoying his strongest season to date, sees the nailing of upgrades as critical. "On the development side, it's by far the strongest. So far everything we've been bringing has been working very, very well," he said.

Permane is coy about revealing too many details, citing the need to protect their process. He does credit chief technical officer Tim Goss and technical director Dan Fallows, as well as the move to a state-of-the-art facility on the Red Bull campus in Milton Keynes. "There's no benefits to being in Milton Keynes other than it's a much nicer facility. It's F3 team to F1 team, so that's made a massive difference," he explained.

Permane sees no magic bullet—just hard work and lessons from the past. Now they focus on bringing more improvements while keeping an eye on 2027. "There are loads of things we can do to go faster, but the most effective one will be more load. So that's where we're focusing," he concluded.