Red Bull Racing is preparing a significant upgrade package for the 2026 Austrian Grand Prix, aiming to improve their competitiveness against Mercedes and Ferrari. This marks their second major upgrade of the season, following a substantial update introduced in Miami earlier in the year.
The previous upgrade featured a complete redesign of the car’s sidepods and introduced a rotary rear wing concept similar to Ferrari’s approach. However, Red Bull’s team principal Laurent Mekies has indicated that the Austrian upgrade alone will not be sufficient to close the gap with the frontrunners. Mekies estimates that Red Bull still needs to find around four tenths of a second per lap to match the pace of Mercedes and Ferrari.
One of the main goals of the upcoming upgrade is to reduce the car’s weight to the minimum allowed by the 2026 regulations, which is set at 768kg. This weight reduction is expected to help improve performance, particularly in mid-speed and high-speed corners as well as on the straights. Despite Ferrari’s recent progress, demonstrated by Lewis Hamilton’s victory in Barcelona, Red Bull struggled to keep up at that event, with Max Verstappen finishing fourth and about 20 seconds behind Lando Norris.
Red Bull acknowledges that continuous development is necessary to close the gap in both power unit and chassis performance. Mekies praised Ferrari’s progress and noted that Mercedes’ early-season advantage appears to be diminishing. While the exact details of the parts revised in the Austrian upgrade have not been disclosed, the focus remains on enhancing the car’s overall efficiency and handling characteristics.
With the 2026 regulations shaping a more intense development battle, teams are introducing larger upgrades than in previous years. Red Bull’s efforts in Austria will be closely watched as they seek to regain ground on their main rivals. The team’s approach highlights the ongoing challenge of balancing aerodynamic improvements with weight reduction to extract maximum performance.
Although the Austrian upgrade is a crucial step, Mekies’ comments suggest that Red Bull still faces a considerable task to bridge the performance gap. The team’s focus on mid- and high-speed cornering, along with straight-line speed, reflects an understanding of where gains are most needed to compete effectively against Mercedes and Ferrari in the current Formula 1® season.
