RB ADMIT RUSHED SPANISH GP UPGRADE PACKAGE WAS A “BELLY FLOP”

RB’s CEO Peter Bayer called the team’s Spanish Grand Prix upgrade package a "belly flop," admitting they rushed its introduction. The team initially planned the new parts for this weekend’s Austrian GP but pushed to bring them to Barcelona, hoping to benefit from three practice sessions instead of Austria's sprint format. Bayer revealed they hadn't completed all necessary analysis, leading to the early struggles.

After studying the Spanish data, RB ran "very different packages" on Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda's cars in Austria's sole practice session. Tsunoda made Sprint Qualifying 2 despite a spin and damaged floor, lining up 14th for the sprint race, while Ricciardo starts 16th. Racing Director Alan Permane confirmed the team "learnt a lot" Friday. They aim to repair Tsunoda's car and continue their data gathering through the sprint race and main qualifying, hoping to salvage a points finish from a difficult start to the triple-header.