Oracle Red Bull Racing officially took the covers off its new challenger for the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship in Detroit this week. While the event celebrated a bold new era alongside Ford Powertrains, the team’s social media team inadvertently sparked a firestorm with a glaring promotional blunder. Shortly after the presentation of the new liveries, a video was posted to X (formerly Twitter) that contained a detail no eagle-eyed fan could possibly miss.
The new 2026 machine, which will be driven by Max Verstappen and his new teammate, Isack Hadjar, was meant to showcase a refreshed retro-inspired design. However, in several frames of the footage, Verstappen’s car clearly appears with the number 1 emblazoned on the bodywork. While this might have looked normal for the past few years, it represents a massive oversight in the context of the 2026 season.
The number that no longer belongs to Max
The reason for the backlash is simple: Max Verstappen is no longer the reigning World Champion. Following a dramatic 2025 season, it was Lando Norris who emerged as the Drivers’ Champion, earning the exclusive right to use the prestigious number 1 for the 2026 campaign. The FIA’s official entry list recently confirmed that Norris will indeed run the #1 on his McLaren, while Max Verstappen has opted to switch to the number 3 (vacated by Daniel Ricciardo).
Seeing the world champion’s digit still attached to Max’s Red Bull caused an immediate stir across social media, with many fans pointing out that the team seems to be struggling to accept their new reality as the “hunters” rather than the “hunted.”
A simple editing error?
The general consensus among paddock insiders is that this was a straightforward editing mistake. It is highly likely that the production team used a provisional rendering or a graphics package that hadn’t been updated since the 2025 title fight was decided. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a launch event saw a small detail slip through the cracks of a high-pressure reveal.
Nevertheless, the fact that the error appeared in official content, approved by Red Bull and distributed across their primary channels, makes it a significant gaffe. In the hyper-detailed world of Formula 1, where every sticker and sponsor placement is scrutinized, such a visible mistake is hard to ignore. The video has since been corrected on several platforms, but not before the “number 1” screenshots went viral.
One thing is certain: even the most dominant teams in the sport can stumble. And this time, Red Bull’s mistake was caught by the entire world before the cars even hit the track.
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