Racing Bulls Chief Technical Officer Tim Goss has reflected on their running at the 2026 F1 Barcelona shakedown.
The team have now completed two days of running, where they have been able to put the VCARB03 to the test.
Goss’s thoughts on Racing Bulls running so far at the 2026 F1 Barcelona shakedown
Over the two days they have been running, Racing Bulls put over 100 laps in. Whilst they are building up the mileage, it has not been smooth sailing. Rookie driver Arvid Lindblad caused two red flags when he had to stop on the circuit. Despite this, Goss is feeling optimistic about Racing Bulls’ 2026 challenger.
“It’s been really, really successful. You come to first tests like this and your aim is it get out there and just build millage and that’s exactly what we’ve achieved. It’s such a new car, everything is different. It’s new aerodynamics, it’s new safety, it’s new PU, it’s new tyres, new electronics. Absolutely everything has changed. We’ve never had this kind of change in Formula 1 before. To get out there and just run successfully both ourselves and the sister team as well, it’s really, really impressive.”
Arvid Lindblad’s first go behind the wheel
Arvid Lindblad signed for Racing Bulls F1 for 2026, replacing Issac Hadjar who moved to Red Bull Racing. With the 18-year-old set to make his debut in Australia, the Barcelona shakedown is providing him with lot’s of learning opportunities.
So far, he is settling into the team well. Goss is pleased with the way he is approaching the shakedown and the feedback he has been providing.
“He’s really calm, really professional. Feedback is really, really straightforward. For someone so young, it’s really, really impressive. His session in the car has really just been about getting to grips with this breed of car. They’re very, very different, not just the general handling of the car, but the way you’ve just got to manage the energy and the energy management. He’s really just been cool, calm and professional. As we’re getting to grips with the balance of the car, his feedback has just been really implemented, really clear. Really, really impressed with him.“
Goss’ run plan for the Barcelona shakedown
With only two days left to go, there is still a lot of work to be done in Barcelona. So far, the focus of the team has been getting lots of miles completed to learn as much as possible about their car.
“It’s gone well. Our first day here was just about trying to get miles under our belt. Second day today, we spent the morning characterising the car aerodynamically. You probably saw we ran with a rake on the car. We did a bit of mapping of the aerodynamics. Really just trying to characterise what we’ve got. Make sure it agrees with all the work done in preparing the car at the factory. And then this afternoon has just been about consistency and mileage and just building both for the driver and ourselves a greater understanding of how the power unit, car and tyres, to some extent, are all interlinked.”
Tim Goss’ thoughts on their new power unit
For 2026, Red Bull Racing has developed its own powertrain through its partnership with Ford. This is during a time when the new regulations mean huge changes to F1 power units. It was a big job, and Goss is feeling optimistic about what they have achieved.
“It’s been a really impressive job by Red Bull Ford Powertrains. To come as a complete newcomer to Formula 1, and on your very first day to put nearly 200 laps under your belt, is easy to take this level of reliability for granted, but it can’t be underestimated what they’ve achieved. Drivability is really good. To be honest, the drivability’s fantastic. The difficulty that ourselves, and probably all of the other teams, are coming to grips with is just how the energy management changes a little bit from lap-to-lap, from corner-to-corner. We’re just trying to understand how best to tune all of that. And for the drivers just to get used to it.
The mood of the team looking forward
The Barcelona shakedown brings us ever closer to the 2026 F1 season. there is much unknown with how the season will go due to the new technical regulations. However at Racing Bulls, the team are all very excited to get back to racing.
“We’re really excited, actually. It’s a new phase. We’ve spent all this time creating the car, and now we’re getting to run it and understand it in real life. But it’s just so exciting to have so much that’s changed and so much to play with and so much to look forward to in terms of creativity. All the engineers are just thrilled to bits. We’re just going into this next phase, which is just building more and more performance. Everyone’s up for the fight.”
