Red Bull is preparing a major overhaul of its Formula 1 car for 2027, with technical director Pierre Waché revealing that very little of the current RB22 will be carried into next season. The changes will extend beyond aerodynamics, with both the chassis and gearbox set to be different as Formula 1’s leading teams prepare for technical revisions that could prove more significant than they initially appear.
Next year will not bring a revolution in terms of the regulations themselves, but the changes introduced during 2026 and those that must be incorporated into the 2027 designs are more invasive than might be expected. During the build-up to the United States Grand Prix in Texas, McLaren technical chief Rob Marshall attempted to play down their impact: “Everything we learn this year can be carried over to next year’s car, because there will be no significant changes.”
That view, however, does not appear to be shared by Mercedes, Red Bull or Ferrari, all of which are approaching 2027 differently, both behind the scenes and through their public comments.
Ferrari and Mercedes use Austin upgrades as a test for 2027
Developing the current generation of Formula 1 cars has proved more complicated than teams anticipated. Power units influence almost every area of performance and operate within an extremely delicate balance that can be disrupted very quickly.
At Singapore, and to some extent already in Malaysia, it was striking to see Mercedes almost completely lose the enormous straight-line advantage it had previously held over McLaren. The MCL40 had not suddenly made the same type of step as the RB22, which is currently the benchmark for efficiency. Instead, the W17 had moved backwards, adding drag and losing balance, compromising the overall efficiency of the power unit package while software continued to manage the complex interaction between its different elements.
A little extra downforce, slightly more drag and increased sliding caused by an imperfect balance were enough to make the W17’s previous equilibrium disappear. What Mercedes had expected to represent a three-tenths improvement effectively became a backwards step. That challenge adds another layer to a development programme in which Mercedes has already acknowledged the need to unlock more potential from the W17.
At Austin, James Allison’s team will look for answers while continuing to rely on its latest developments, including the new front wing, which has not been discarded. Ferrari will also take its turn, completing work that had been left unfinished at Zandvoort by introducing one final major package featuring an entirely new floor alongside further changes to the sidepods and bodywork.
The SF-26 remains one of the reference chassis on the grid, if not the best, but Ferrari is still paying a price for its power-unit deficit. That area will become the main focus of development at Maranello for next season. There is therefore considerable interest in the work carried out by Loïc Serra and his technical group in recent months and whether Ferrari will receive clear, positive answers, as Red Bull has recently done, or encounter the kind of complications experienced by Mercedes and McLaren.
The importance of the Austin package goes beyond extracting more performance from the 2026 car. Ferrari will also use the developments to assess whether its design tools and correlation process are moving in the right direction. A detailed look at Ferrari’s planned Austin upgrades for the SF-26 shows how the package has become an important test of the team’s development direction.
CFD, wind tunnel and simulator correlation become crucial
For both Brackley and Maranello, the objective is therefore not simply to find additional 2026 performance. Mercedes and Ferrari also want confirmation that the work carried out behind the scenes is sound and that the virtual data generated by CFD, the wind tunnel and the simulator can be trusted.
That validation will be particularly important because the 2027 cars are expected to have relatively little in common with the current designs. Ferrari’s wider technical development can also be followed through its SF-26 technical analysis and upgrade programme.
Red Bull 2027 F1 car will carry over very little from the RB22
Ferrari and Mercedes will not be alone in making major changes. Frédéric Vasseur has already anticipated a new Ferrari engine, while AutoRacer has reported that both Mercedes and Ferrari will change their car concepts for next season. McLaren is also expected to make significant changes to the MCL40, including moving towards a longer wheelbase.
For Red Bull, Pierre Waché has now explained just how extensive the transformation could be. It comes after the team made major progress with its current car, with two important development steps helping transform the RB22’s competitiveness during the 2026 season.
“Next year there will be some regulatory changes and we are still dealing with some limitations on the car, just as other teams are facing the same problems. What we are going to do will not be good for the budget cap, but we will carry very little of the RB22 over into next year. For example, the chassis and gearbox will be different,” Pierre Waché explained during an interview with RacingNews365.
The scale of the planned redesign underlines how seriously Red Bull is treating the next phase of development. It also comes at a point when the team has already managed to turn the RB22 into one of the most efficient cars on the grid, making the decision to move away from large parts of the current package particularly notable.
Why the 2027 F1 regulation changes could have a major impact
The 2027 changes are intended to reduce aerodynamic load and limit how much performance aerodynamicists can extract in ways that could once again produce excessive turbulence for following cars. On paper, the revisions may appear relatively small, but their impact on car design could be substantial.
Many teams are therefore working on projects that differ considerably from their current cars. Red Bull’s development path will be particularly important after its recent progress, while the team also faces the challenge of ensuring that its advantage is not eroded as the current development cycle comes to an end. That wider situation has already been highlighted by Laurent Mekies when discussing the limits of Red Bull’s remaining 2026 development.
Despite attempts from some quarters to play down the scale of the transition, it now appears increasingly likely that Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull will all begin their 2027 projects from something close to a clean sheet. The results will be particularly interesting after a 2026 season in which the leading teams have still not converged around one clearly dominant technical philosophy.
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