First impression of Red Bull's '26 car shared: This is the verdict!

11:28, 28 Jul

byLudo van Denderen

A few final updates here and there, and then the current ten teams in Formula 1 will focus entirely on the cars of 2026. Considerable progress has already been made, as the first rounds in the simulator have already been driven with this car. This includes Red Bull Racing, the team that will be using its own Red Bull Powertrains as its power unit in 2026.

At Red Bull, it's not Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda who spend many hours in the simulator in Milton Keynes, but the test and reserve driver Arvid Lindblad. GPblog already understood that the Briton is doing much development work, something the current Formula 2 driver confirmed when asked in Belgium.

How good is the Red Bull Racing RB22?

Lindblad didn't want to say too much about how the RB22 feels, but he did provide some insight into the car with a single detail. "It's still very early in the development", he explains in response to a question from GPblog, before indicating that predicting how everything will be in '26 is a futile task.

Arvid Lindblad is working on the RB22 for Red Bull

"But it's hard to know. I don't think anyone really knows what it's going to be like. For sure, F1's going to be very different next year with the way the battery works and the engine and the power is very different."

"So yeah I don't think anyone really knows what's going to happen but for sure it will be very different and it's an exciting time in that regard..

This also applies to Lindblad personally. It is generally assumed that the driver will be promoted from Formula 2, but at which Red Bull team will he drive? It is likely he will make the move to Racing Bulls, but perhaps it will be Red Bull Racing alongside - probably - Max Verstappen.