Red Bull's aggressive F1 testing strategy revealed

Red Bull

Red Bull's aggressive F1 testing strategy revealed

Testing will take place in Barcelona

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Monday 26 January 2026 11:53

Like the humble field mouse emerging from hibernation, we can sniff the air and sense the F1 season arriving. Which means one thing: tyre chat.

Pirelli have released the selected tyre compounds for the Barcelona shakedown, which takes place from Monday, January 26 until Friday, January 30.

Not only will teams adjust to their new machinery in Barcelona, but also will see how Pirelli's range of tyres respond to the changed cars.

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Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar will only test two compounds of the dry tyres however, with Red Bull making an aggressive choice in tyre strategy for the Barcelona tests.

The team will bring a whopping 18 sets of C3 soft tyres and one set of mediums for the five days in Barcelona.

Red Bull go all-in for Barcelona testing

So, why have Red Bull gone all-in on the softs for Barcelona testing? Although we can't claim to have a psychic insight into the inner workings of the Red Bull sanctum, the choice suggests a couple of things.

One is that Red Bull are opting to see how they perform over one lap or a race stint on the soft tyres, as opposed to Mercedes who have brought eight sets of the C1 hard tyres, and may be looking for data on how their car holds up on long runs.

Another alternative could be that the C3 tyre will be quicker to get up to temperature, with a warmer tyre producing better grip in those cool winter conditions in Barcelona.

Regardless, the test will be less about seeing how quick they are over a lap on the softs and more about how the tyres work with the new cars.

F1 Red Bull Max Verstappen Isack Hadjar