Racing Bulls is chasing a result that would feel almost like a world championship for the Faenza-based team. The Italian squad is locked in an intense battle with Alpine for fifth place in the 2026 Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship, with their rivalry extending beyond the track and into the development race.
A steady stream of upgrades throughout the season has allowed Racing Bulls to recover much of the ground lost because of the late start to its 2026 project. The progress has also demonstrated the benefits of the restructuring and strengthening carried out within the team over recent years.
How Racing Bulls developed its 2026 Formula 1 car
If Racing Bulls is now in a position to challenge for what would be the best championship result in its history, much of the credit belongs to the development programme carried out during the season.
The 2026 campaign did not begin particularly well for the VCARB. Racing Bulls paid the price for the resources invested in continuing to upgrade its 2025 car, which delayed work on the following season’s project.
However, the Faenza team proved capable of recovering that lost ground by introducing a consistent series of effective upgrades. For the first time, that development work was also overseen by Dan Fallows, who became the team’s new technical director in April.
The first major turning point came with the new floor introduced in Canada, which immediately helped bring the car to life. During the Austrian and Silverstone rounds, the focus shifted primarily towards improving race pace, with the team also working on the car’s set-up.
Another major upgrade package then debuted at Spa. Racing Bulls introduced revisions to the bodywork, front brake drums and even the chassis, particularly around the roll-hoop area.
At Monza, the team added a new low-downforce rear wing featuring movable, foldable profiles. Racing Bulls consequently became the fourth team to adopt the so-called “Macarena wing” and the first midfield operation to develop the solution.
Finally, Baku brought further changes to the car’s inboard aerodynamics, involving the wing, suspension-arm fairings and brake ducts.
Racing Bulls battles Alpine for fifth place
Racing Bulls is now pursuing an exceptional fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship, although Alpine’s recent resurgence has made that objective more difficult.
The Anglo-French team introduced an extensive package of upgrades between Zandvoort and Monza, breathing new life into the Enstone-built cars and intensifying the battle between the two midfield rivals.
Racing Bulls also faced disruption because of Isack Hadjar’s injury. With the Red Bull driver sidelined for three Grands Prix, Liam Lawson was moved across from Racing Bulls to replace him, depriving the Faenza team of one of its reference drivers during that period.
Yuki Tsunoda stepped into Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls seat and delivered respectable performances, but the temporary reshuffle still came at a cost during an important phase of the championship fight.
Why fifth place would mean so much to Racing Bulls
Despite those complications, Racing Bulls remains firmly in contention for fifth in the championship, which in itself represents an exceptional achievement.
Formula 1’s 2026 regulatory revolution has been the most complex of the past 30 years, placing an unprecedented design and manufacturing workload on the teams. Smaller operations with fewer staff and less extensive infrastructure have found the transition particularly difficult.
Williams team principal James Vowles highlighted the scale of the challenge: “This has been by far the biggest regulation change we have ever faced and it has exposed, more than ever, all the teams without the right systems and fundamentals.”
In that respect, Racing Bulls has been one of the exceptions among Formula 1’s smaller teams.
The 2026 campaign has highlighted the value of the restructuring and strengthening work completed over previous years. One of the most important steps was the opening of the new Milton Keynes campus, which houses the team’s aerodynamics department and has expanded the technical resources available to the Faenza operation.
Red Bull-Ford power unit also contributes to Racing Bulls progress
Credit must also go to the Red Bull-Ford power unit, which has demonstrated its competitiveness even at some of the most demanding circuits on the calendar, including Monza.
That combination of stronger infrastructure, effective development and competitive power-unit performance has allowed Racing Bulls to overcome the delayed start to its 2026 project and remain in the fight for a position few would have considered straightforward at the beginning of the season.
There is still no certainty over how the battle with Alpine will end. But for Racing Bulls, simply reaching the closing phase of the championship with a realistic chance of finishing fifth already represents a result of which the team can be proud.
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