Racing Bulls prepping double upgrade push during F1's April lull

While Formula 1 has been forced into an unexpected pause in April, Racing Bulls are quietly turning disruption into opportunity – and a potentially pivotal one at that.

With races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia wiped from the calendar, team principal Alan Permane has revealed that the Faenza squad is preparing to tackle the upcoming Miami and Montreal rounds armed not with one upgrade for its VCARB 03, but effectively two.

What was originally a staggered development plan has now been reshuffled into something far more aggressive.

"We've got a few things in the pipeline," Permane explained. "We had a decent upgrade planned for Bahrain, which we'll now take to Miami, and another planned for Montreal, so we'll effectively have a quick double upgrade.

"We'll introduce one and then replace it straight away, as we can't bring everything at once or move the Montreal upgrade forward."

It’s a bold approach – one that could see Racing Bulls rapidly evolve their car across consecutive race weekends, rather than relying on a single step forward.

Behind the scenes, the unexpected break has also unlocked valuable time for work that would normally be impossible during the relentless flyaway schedule.

"With freight back from Japan, we've also taken the opportunity to carry out some unplanned work on the chassis – work that wasn't scheduled until the end of this flyaway sequence.

"Some areas of the business have been working harder than expected, so we've encouraged the race team to take some time off," he added.

A rare chance to reset

Beyond upgrades, the pause has offered something even rarer in modern Formula 1: breathing room.

Permane revealed the team has used the downtime to reconnect its design and trackside operations in a way that the calendar rarely allows.

"We're using this period to build up the cars so the design office can see them fully assembled,” the Briton said.

"The cars are hardly ever here during the season, so it's a good chance to complete work we couldn't do before.

"If one or both of the cancelled races are reinstated, we're expecting a busy end to the year, so we want to make sure everyone can take rest where possible too.”

That balance between productivity and recovery could prove crucial as the midfield battle tightens.

Quiet progress – with more to come

Despite not grabbing headlines, Racing Bulls have built a quietly effective start to 2026, consistently extracting points even when outright pace has been lacking.

"I think we did a good job. I'm not often one to self-praise, but we performed well in Shanghai,” commented Permane.

"We managed to score points in both the sprint and the main race, even though we weren't really quick enough. It was similar in Suzuka, but we've been able to extract the maximum from the car to bring home points.

"We are paying the price against the teams we're racing who developed their cars last season, whereas we developed ours towards the end of the year, so we're a little on the back foot.

"However, the upgrades we're bringing should hopefully move us closer to the top of the midfield," he predicted.

If those upgrades deliver, Racing Bulls could quickly transform from opportunistic points-scorers into genuine contenders in the tightly packed middle order.

A new power unit 'working very well'

Central to that push is the team’s Red Bull Powertrains-Ford new power unit, a project still in its infancy but already showing promise.

"The PU works very well, and with every lap we complete, we learn more. Each time we run the car, we gather valuable data,” the Racing Bulls chief said.

"One advantage we have is that we have powertrain engineers embedded within our engineering office, which allows us to work closely with them and better understand both them and how they operate.

• Read also: Lawson finds his groove but Permane wants less 'mistakes’

"This break gives us the opportunity to take a step back and review what we've done so far. There will likely be some changes in how we operate the PU for Miami and beyond.

"We're using this period to work closely together to extract the maximum performance from both the PU and the chassis," he concluded.

For Racing Bulls, the unexpected lull may prove to be a turning point. While others wait for the season to resume, the Faenza outfit is gearing up for a rapid-fire evolution – one that could make Miami the moment their campaign truly comes alive.

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