How Racing Bulls settled which driver got its big F1 Belgian GP upgrade

Racing Bulls has introduced a significant upgrade package at the Belgian Grand Prix that will be run exclusively on Arvid Lindblad’s Formula 1 car. 

Red Bull’s sister team has brought the most upgrades of any outfit to its 2026 car for the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps as it looks to continue an impressive streak that has seen it secure a double points finish at the past four races. 

The package consists of a new engine cover, revised roll hoop and updated front corner and rear wing. All four parts have been developed to improve airflow and downforce on the VCARB 03. 

Due to the complexity and size of the upgrade, it was not possible for Racing Bulls to get it ready to run on both cars, leaving the team facing a tricky dilemma with how best to fairly allocate parts between its drivers. 

It was ultimately agreed that whichever driver qualified ahead at the British Grand Prix would receive the upgrade first. Lindblad went on to outpace Liam Lawson at Silverstone and so the F1 rookie gets first dibs. 

“Honestly, we don't like bringing updates for just one car. It was impossible for us to do it to two cars,” Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane explained on Friday at the Belgian Grand Prix. 

"It's a chassis modification. We had to shrink the roll hoop, and we just couldn't do that in time between Silverstone and here on both cars. 

“So what I did is I sat down with both drivers in Austria on Saturday evening. We'd had a very good qualifying. 

“I thought, OK, while everyone's in a good mood, I'll give some bad news. We've got a good update coming, but we can only do one car for Spa. And the next car will be done for the race after in Budapest. 

“So I first suggested the very simple option that makes it fair is we upgrade no cars for Spa. And then both of them for Budapest. Of course, they looked to me like I was crazy, and I wouldn't have ever done that. So we didn't really seriously consider that. 

"The next thing I said is, look, we can flip a coin, or we can make it a little bit of fun and we'll say whoever qualifies in front in Silverstone gets the upgrade. 

“They both signed up for that, and that's what we did. I think what we'll do if it happens again later in the season, and it may happen later, we've got another big thing coming at some point, it'll go to Liam. 

“So we won't do that again. He'll automatically get it the next time. But we tried to put a little bit of fun to it rather than just allocating it to someone.”

A tactical decision to prioritise its ultimately successful bid to secure sixth place in the 2025 constructors’ championship ahead of Aston Martin left Racing Bulls on the backfoot when it came to starting work on its 2026 challenger. 

After a rocky start to the campaign, Racing Bulls has been consistently at the head of the midfield pack since a successful floor upgrade was introduced at the Canadian Grand Prix. 

“We started this car a little bit late last year,” Permane said. “We were in our own championship fight last year for that sixth place and that was very important to us. So we started a little bit late to the 2026 car. 

“So we knew the first races, or we felt the first races were going to be a bit of a struggle. Certainly testing was definitely a struggle. We bought a very large upgrade for Melbourne and we've continued to upgrade the car through the season. 

"I think what really switched the car on was what we bought a floor to Montreal. And that really did light the car up. The second part of what's really helped our season is finding the race pace. 

“So we had a very nice car in Canada, in qualy. It wasn't so good in the race. Monaco, very similar. Barcelona, very similar. We didn't have good enough race pace. 

“What we've done since Austria and Austria and in Silverstone have showed that we've fixed that. Certainly for those two tracks and here early indications look like we're in good shape as well. 

“So it's a combination of what has been delivered from the wind tunnel and design and production, and a little bit the way the guys are running the car on the track.”