Red Bull’s aggressive F1 testing plan comes to light

Credit for photo: Formula1.com — Photo: © IMAGO

Red Bull

Red Bull’s aggressive F1 testing plan comes to light

Testing will take place in Barcelona

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Monday 26 January 2026 23:00

As winter loosens its grip, the familiar signs of a new F1 season are starting to appear — and with them comes an inevitable talking point: tires.

Pirelli has confirmed the tire compounds teams will use during the Barcelona shakedown, scheduled to run from Monday, January 26 through Friday, January 30.

The test won’t just be about learning brand-new cars. Teams will also be closely monitoring how Pirelli’s updated tire range behaves under the radically altered 2026 machinery, gathering crucial early data ahead of the season ahead.

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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 C3 soft tyres and one set of mediums for the five days in Barcelona.

Red Bull go all-in for Barcelona testing

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

Another alternative, however, could be that the C3 tyre will be quicker to get up to temperature, with a warmer tyre having 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.

Red Bull Max Verstappen Isack Hadjar