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Australian GP 2026 — back on top

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Melbourne is one of those tracks where setup matters more than raw downforce, and Red Bull nailed the balance this weekend. Max won pole, won the race, and set the fastest lap. Twenty-six points and a championship lead heading to Suzuka.

The qualifying lap

Watching Max’s pole lap on the team radio replay was a thing of beauty. He kept saying “no grip” through Q2, then dialled up the front wing one click and went 0.4s faster on his first Q3 run. That’s the difference between a driver who can adapt and one who sets up the car for one specific scenario.

Jeddah GP 2026 — qualifying decided everything

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

If Bahrain showed Red Bull’s pace, Jeddah showed McLaren’s. Norris took pole by 0.044s, the smallest margin since the 2019 British GP qualifying battle. Max settled for second on the grid and converted to second at the flag — a P2 that felt like a defeat given the season opener.

What changed

The Jeddah Corniche Circuit rewards aerodynamic efficiency above all else. McLaren’s MCL40 has clearly stepped forward in low-drag setup. They didn’t just match Red Bull on the straights — they were measurably quicker in the long flat-out sections through sector 2.

Bahrain GP 2026 — opening round recap

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The 2026 season started under the desert lights at the Bahrain International Circuit, and Max delivered exactly what Red Bull needed after a turbulent winter testing period. Pole on Saturday by 0.187s over Norris, then a controlled lights-to-flag run to take the 25 points and bonus for fastest lap on the final tour.

Strategy

Soft–hard–medium was the optimal call given the track temperature climbing through the second stint. Red Bull pulled the trigger on the first stop a lap earlier than McLaren and that gave Max the undercut that defined the rest of the race. The hard compound held up better than expected — Pirelli’s revised construction for 2026 seems to have killed the graining that plagued last year’s opening round.