Pierre Wache admits Red Bull trailing rivals in traction at the 2026 Bahrain test
Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache is adamant that his team are “certainly not” the benchmark in 2026 after the first Bahrain test, as the RB22 struggles for traction.
Many rival teams, none less so than Mercedes, are now ranking Red Bull as the team to beat after a productive few days in the Sakhir desert. But Wache is steadfast in his belief that Red Bull are only the fourth-best team behind Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren after what he saw.
Mercedes and Williams team principals Toto Wolff and James Vowles claim Red Bull’s energy deployment could gain them up to a second per lap on the straights, as they can deploy a lot more energy. George Russell also believes energy management is Red Bull’s big advantage.
Max Verstappen adopted aggressive driving styles during the first of the two tests in Bahrain to find the performance from the maiden Red Bull Powertrains engine. But Isack Hadjar has also shown Red Bull’s 2026 F1 car handles the best, due to its stable platform under braking.
Kimi Antonelli tops the timings for Bahrain testing Day 3 👀
Were you expecting to see Mercedes at the top after a difficult few days?
Pierre Wache thinks Red Bull are only the fourth-best F1 team in 2026 due to their traction problems
Wache, though, argues that Red Bull are only the fourth-best team after the first official pre-season test under the 2026 F1 regulations. He believes it is clear that Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren are stronger than Red Bull when it comes to traction and top speed in some areas.
The data that Red Bull gained across Verstappen and Hadjar’s laps in the Bahrain test shows Wache that they still need to work on improving the RB22’s traction out of slow corners and also top speed with low fuel levels. Wache even admits it is a long-standing issue for them.
“It’s hard to say,” Wache told SPEEDWEEK. “We’re certainly not the benchmark. We clearly see that Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren are ahead of us. As for us, I’m never satisfied with my own work. Obviously, we have room for improvement.”
Wache added: “The others are better at traction out of slow corners. Also at top speed, especially with low fuel. Slow and medium-speed corners haven’t been our strengths in recent years.”
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Should Max Verstappen’s fans be getting excited after George Russell’s comments on Red Bull at the 2026 F1 Bahrain test?
The 2026 F1 regulations offered Red Bull a chance to start fresh after struggling in slow and medium-speed corners towards the end of the ground-effect era from 2022 to 2025. Never before has Formula 1 overhauled the rulebook as much as it has with the 2026 regulations.
Red Bull also faced the additional challenge entering the new regulatory cycle of becoming an engine constructor for the first time in their history. Former team boss Christian Horner built Red Bull Powertrains ahead of the 2026 season after Honda initially chose to leave F1.
Yet while Red Bull have begun a brand new engine project as F1 introduces power units with almost a 50/50 split between electrical and combustion power, at a time that the series also introduces new aero and chassis rules, their engine largely impressed their rivals in Bahrain.