Racing Bulls simulations leave Alan Permane optimistic for Liam Lawson’s 2026 season

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During the five-week break between Suzuka and Miami, F1 teams have been hard at work developing their 2026 cars. Racing Bulls boss Alan Permane has voiced his confidence in the VCARB03’s latest upgrades.

As has been the case in recent seasons, Racing Bulls have put together another user-friendly car, even if it isn’t among the quickest on the grid.

The Italian constructor has stuck to a clear development path, helping them get more out of their package than some might expect. Data from Liam Lawson’s Chinese GP run even hinted that they may be extracting more performance from their engine than Red Bull’s factory team.

After three rounds, Racing Bulls find themselves just two points behind Red Bull in the constructors’ standings and have placed at least one car inside the top ten in all four races across both formats this season.

But if they want to climb further up the championship order, they’ll need to address a key issue: their car is 14kg over the weight limit.

The VCARB03 is reportedly the fourth-heaviest car on the grid, so it’s no surprise that aerodynamic upgrades are already being planned.

Alan Permane shares Racing Bulls engineers’ thoughts on new upgrades

Speaking via Motorsport Italia, Racing Bulls boss Alan Permane outlined how the cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia rounds of the 2026 F1 season has affected their development roadmap for the VCARB03.

The significant upgrade scheduled for Miami was initially planned to debut in Bahrain. In addition to that, development work has continued in parallel on another update set for Montreal.

Permane explained: “We’ll have a close sequence of two updates. It wasn’t possible to combine them because the updates intended for the Canadian Grand Prix wouldn’t have been ready for the trip to the United States.”

Liam Lawson, who currently holds lead driver status at Racing Bulls due to his experience, would have likely received new upgrades before Arvid Lindblad under normal circumstances. But with more time between races, both drivers will now benefit equally from the changes.