Liam Lawson’s 2026 Racing Bulls car contains one ‘eye-catching’ detail other teams can learn from

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Racing Bulls are unlikely to be frontrunners during the 2026 Formula 1 season, but that doesn’t mean that the sport’s biggest teams can’t take note of their latest creation.

It was a very positive shakedown for Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad in Barcelona.

The pair completed more than 300 laps between them, and after Lindblad crashed during a demonstration run at Imola, he recovered brilliantly at the Circuit de Catalunya.

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Martin Brundle heard some positive things about Lindblad from Racing Bulls sources, while Lawson may finally be able to get a settled pre-season under his belt after last year’s Red Bull fiasco.

The new regulations mean that all 11 teams are coming up with some interesting ideas compared to last year, when the grid had converged on the best way to build a car for the previous ruleset.

Technical expert Craig Scarborough has taken a closer look at the VCARB 03 and thinks there are some ‘eye-catching’ details that other teams on the grid need to pay close attention to.

READ MORE: All to know about Racing Bulls from team principal to Red Bull affiliation

‘Eye-catching’ Racing Bulls 2026 Formula 1 car includes ‘massive’ roll hoop inlet

Scarborough was speaking about Lawson and Lindblad’s car on Peter Windsor’s YouTube channel.

He explained: “It’s an eye-catching car, not just because of its lovely white livery, which I don’t think is as nice as last year’s, but I’m not here to talk about liveries.

“It’s quite clear that it is not the twin of the Red Bull. It has the same powertrain. It has the same front and rear suspension.

“But from there, you can see that both teams have gone in slightly different directions.

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“Or at least there was a fork in the road down one direction that they followed. So the key thing is that when you look at the V-CARB, you can’t help but notice the roll hoop inlet, which is massive.

“Historically, I was looking at some photos from the F1 launch back in 2014, and they had a massive roll hoop inlet back then, and have obviously had them at various points in years gone by.

“So, again, it goes back to how we were talking about how the Red Bull cools the car.

“It’s an interesting car, and I think other teams can learn a few details from it to apply to theirs.”

READ MORE: Who is Racing Bulls F1 driver Liam Lawson? Everything you need to know

Alan Permane lauds Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad after Barcelona shakedown

After seeing the VCARB 03 for the first time, Gary Anderson suspected Racing Bulls had ‘taken a step back’ that might actually benefit the team’s drivers.

There were initial issues with the Racing Bulls power unit during that Imola demonstration, but neither Red Bull-Ford-powered team suffered in Barcelona.

Team principal Alan Permane reflected on the shakedown and lauded his two drivers, stating: “We have had very productive three days here at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

“We feel we hit the ground running with the new car and power unit, and they’ve both run very reliably since the first run.

“We had no significant stoppages, and every time the car went out, we learnt something new, which is amazing.

“One of the new things about this new generation of power units is learning how to manage the energy in them; we started testing that on various fuel loads.

“Both Liam and Arvid have worked hard this week, and it’s been really good to see them following each other’s runs on track; there’s already a great collaboration between them, and we’ve seen them always ready to help each other.”

Racing Bulls are in a fascinating position heading into 2026, and their car has a few key characteristics that make it stand out from the crowd.

Only time will tell whether they’ve gone in the right direction, or if they’ll be scrambling to copy their rivals to avoid being left behind.