Eleven years ago, the Milton Keynes-based team scored even fewer points than they have today, with Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat behind the wheel.
A disastrous start
The new technical regulations introduced this season have had a major impact on Red Bull and its drivers, starting with Max Verstappen. Frustrated with both the results and the characteristics of the new-generation cars, the Dutchman has even gone as far as threatening to retire from Formula 1.
His teammate, Isack Hadjar—another driver promoted to Milton Keynes after his experience with Racing Bulls—has also expressed strong criticism of the RB22, particularly following the Japanese Grand Prix. Suzuka, notably, marked the third race of the championship and ended with only Verstappen finishing in the points, albeit in a modest eighth place.
When combined with the disappointing results achieved by the four-time world champion and Hadjar in the previous rounds, the Anglo-Austrian team now finds itself in sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship, level on 16 points with Alpine.
An even worse start in the past
To find a worse start to a Formula 1 season for Red Bull after the first three Grands Prix, it is necessary to go back eleven years to 2015. At that time, the championship did not yet include Sprint races—something worth noting, considering that in the only Sprint held so far this season in China, neither Max Verstappen nor Isack Hadjar managed to score points.
Following the departure of Sebastian Vettel, who had moved to Ferrari after winning four world titles with Red Bull, the team replaced the German with Daniil Kvyat. The Russian driver had been promoted after his rookie season in Formula 1 with Toro Rosso (now known as Racing Bulls).
However, Kvyat’s debut with Red Bull in Australia quickly turned into a sporting nightmare. During the formation lap, he encountered a gearbox issue that forced him to retire before the race had even started. His teammate Daniel Ricciardo, meanwhile, finished sixth in front of his home crowd—what would ultimately prove to be the best result for the team across the opening three races of that season.
In Malaysia and China, Daniel Ricciardo finished tenth and ninth respectively, both times at the lower end of the points-paying positions. At Sepang, he even finished just behind Kvyat. The Russian driver, however, suffered another retirement in China due to an engine failure while he was running inside the points.
By the end of the Shanghai round, Red Bull found itself in fifth place in the Constructors’ standings with just 13 points—an even worse tally than their current total in 2026.
Despite this difficult start, the Milton Keynes outfit managed to recover as the season progressed, although they did not secure a single race victory. Daniel Ricciardo reached the podium twice, while Kvyat achieved a remarkable second-place finish in Hungary, just ahead of his Australian teammate.
The season ultimately concluded with Red Bull finishing fourth in the Constructors’ Championship on 187 points, trailing Williams by 70 points and the dominant Mercedes team by a staggering 516 points. Mercedes, that year, failed to win only three out of the nineteen races on the calendar, underlining the scale of the challenge Red Bull faced at the time.
In comparison, the struggles seen in the early stages of the 2026 season highlight a similarly difficult transition period—raising questions about whether Red Bull can once again recover as it did in the past, or if this campaign could mark one of the most challenging chapters in the team’s modern Formula 1 history.
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