Red Bull used its post-British Grand Prix filming day at Silverstone to test software changes aimed at solving the inconsistent starts that have cost the team positions throughout the 2026 Formula 1 season. Although filming days are officially intended to capture promotional footage, the Milton Keynes team turned its permitted 200 kilometres of running into a valuable technical test.
The programme was not limited to filming and evaluating the RB22’s rear wing. Red Bull also trialled potential solutions to its launch problems, seeking to understand why the car’s performance when the lights go out has varied so dramatically from one race to another. Isack Hadjar has now revealed that the work produced useful information, even though Red Bull still considers Ferrari the benchmark for consistency.
Red Bull’s Silverstone filming day targets costly F1 start problems
After the incidents in Austria and at Silverstone, Red Bull held extensive discussions about the safety of its rotating rear-wing concept. The situation also prompted the FIA to examine the issue more closely and establish whether it was specific to the Milton Keynes team or potentially relevant to every car using that type of rear wing.
Unless the FIA introduces stricter safety parameters in the future, Ferrari remains calm about its own solution. Since the rotating wing was definitively introduced at Miami, Ferrari’s version has not suffered a known malfunction or created a dangerous situation. That suggests the problem is more closely linked to Red Bull’s implementation than to the concept itself.
Red Bull consequently returned to a conventional rear-wing specification on the RB22 for Spa. The team’s decision and the incidents that preceded it are examined in more detail in the report on why Red Bull abandoned its Macarena rear wing for the Belgian Grand Prix. A broader analysis of the different systems introduced across the grid is also available in ScuderiaFans’ technical overview from the Spa pit lane.
Strong qualifying results undermined by poor starts
The rotating rear wing is not the only weakness Red Bull is attempting to address. A strong qualifying performance can quickly be compromised by a poor getaway, and the team has struggled to produce consistently competitive starts since the beginning of the championship.
On several occasions, Red Bull’s drivers have lost multiple positions before reaching the first corner. That has placed additional pressure on both Isack Hadjar and Max Verstappen, forcing them to recover during races after qualifying much higher up the grid.
Following the Silverstone Sprint, Isack Hadjar did not hide his frustration after another poor start sent him backwards despite a promising qualifying result. The French driver argued that there was little point lining up on the grid if the same weakness meant positions would inevitably be lost as soon as the race began.
“We can’t get off the line. We simply don’t understand it. There’s no point starting a race knowing that you’re going to lose four positions immediately. In my case, I lost even more than that. It’s shocking, every time,” Isack Hadjar said.
Max Verstappen also made a slow start the following day, although the four-time Formula 1 world champion’s problem was more closely connected to excessive wheelspin from the rear tyres.
Red Bull searches for greater consistency at the start
This is the central issue Red Bull is trying to solve. The team has lost several positions at the start of races this season and, in some circumstances, its slow initial acceleration has even risked becoming a hazard for cars approaching from behind.
Red Bull is therefore working carefully to improve its launch performance, following a path similar to Mercedes, which previously addressed its own difficulties by modifying the relevant software. Mercedes’ progress demonstrates that significant gains can be found without changing the power unit itself.
Red Bull’s main problem appears to be inconsistency rather than a complete lack of launch performance. In certain conditions, its starts have been very competitive. Isack Hadjar produced an impressive getaway in Australia, helped by the use of additional electrical energy, and was even able to put the Mercedes drivers under pressure.
In most other situations, however, Red Bull’s starts have been poor because the operating window in which the power unit performs correctly during the launch phase appears to be too narrow. Small differences in conditions, settings or execution can therefore produce significantly different outcomes.
Data reveals excessive engine-speed loss during clutch release
The data indicates that Red Bull is often the team that loses the most engine speed when the lights go out and the driver begins releasing the clutch. A drop in revolutions is a natural part of the launch process, but it appears to be more pronounced on the Red Bull than on its rivals.
As Mercedes and its customer teams have previously demonstrated, using the same power unit does not guarantee identical performance at the start. The effectiveness of a launch also depends on how the power unit, electrical energy, software and clutch-release procedure operate together.
According to Isack Hadjar, even the Racing Bulls cars are currently more effective off the line. That comparison gives Red Bull confidence that a solution should be possible because another team using related technology is already achieving better results.
Every available testing opportunity is therefore valuable. Alongside the promotional filming and its rear-wing evaluation, Red Bull used the 200km filming day held at Silverstone after the British Grand Prix to trial corrective software and improve the behaviour of the RB22 during starts.
Mercedes provided Red Bull with a development blueprint
Mercedes completed similar work during the enforced month-long break caused by the cancellation of the Middle Eastern Grands Prix. The team used a filming day to evaluate software changes intended to address its own launch weaknesses.
Those modifications appear to have produced the intended results. From the Canadian Grand Prix onwards, Mercedes was frequently one of the most effective teams at the start, although its disappointing getaway at Silverstone may have cost it victory.
Mercedes has continued its technical development ahead of Spa, where the team introduced a significant aerodynamic package for the Belgian Grand Prix. The front wing was also refined to improve the W17’s straight-line efficiency at Spa-Francorchamps.
Isack Hadjar says Red Bull is in a better position
Speaking ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Isack Hadjar confirmed that Red Bull had placed considerable pressure on itself to understand the launch problem. The Silverstone test gave the team an opportunity to try several ideas and gather additional information before travelling to Spa.
“I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves by really trying to understand the problems. We recently did some testing at Silverstone after the race and had some good opportunities to try things, which we did, and we learned something as well,” Isack Hadjar explained.
However, the French driver acknowledged that Red Bull has not yet reached the standard demonstrated by Ferrari. For Isack Hadjar, consistency is the main objective, with Williams and Racing Bulls also providing examples of teams that regularly execute strong starts.
“So obviously we’re not there yet… let’s say we’re in a much better position than we were at Silverstone, but we’re still chasing what, for example, Ferrari does. They are very consistent. Williams is also very strong, and Racing Bulls are doing a very good job, so we should be doing it as well.”
The Belgian Grand Prix will provide the first competitive test of the software corrections evaluated at Silverstone. The launches will be only one element of a demanding weekend for Red Bull, while Spa has also been described as a major examination of Mercedes’ strengths and weaknesses.
Red Bull’s filming-day work shows how valuable even a tightly restricted 200km test can become under Formula 1’s limited testing regulations. If the team can widen the RB22’s operating window and reproduce its strongest starts consistently, good qualifying performances should no longer be undermined within the opening seconds of a race.
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