RB vs Haas: The Battle for Sixth

As Formula 1 goes past the half way stage and heads into the final two races before the summer break there’s plenty of narratives to watch, and one of the most interesting ones is the battle commencing between Visa Cash App RB and MoneyGram Haas F1 Team for sixth in the Constructors Championship.

RB are currently sixth in the Championship with 31 points, while two back-to-back six place finishes for Nico Hülkenberg and Haas has lifted them to 27 points, which leaves them just four behind RB. Since the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix, Haas have been firmly ahead of RB after the latter introduced an upgrade package that they’ve failed to understand – this was clear to see with Daniel Ricciardo being knocked out in Q1 in Barcelona just two weeks after qualifying fifth at the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix.

We’ve looked at a few different factors that affect the battle and also predicted what the battle may look like in the second half of the season.

Triple Header Damaged RB’s Lead

Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda have been driving well during the triple header, but it simply hasn’t been enough to keep up with Haas. Ricciardo described his performance in Barcelona as one of his best of the season, but the performance of the car limited him to just fifteenth, with Tsunoda further behind. Moving into the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix, RB found some of their issues and were better, but Ricciardo had to pull out on of his best drives of the season to finish ninth, while Hülkenberg and Magnussen both finished inside the points for the first time since the 2024 Australian Grand Prix.

The most recent race was another poor one for RB, despite Tsunoda scoring a point. While the Japanese driver did manage to keep hold of a point, his teammate finished fourteenth and raced with old engine components after his car was taken apart due to a start up issue on the morning of race day. Haas on the other hand finished sixth once again, with Hülkenberg bringing them to just four points behind the Italian outfit.

The triple header certainly hurt RB and the upgrade package they had high hopes for has taken them from a comfortable spot at the top of the midfield to right in the middle of the pack.

Daniel Ricciardo ahead Kevin Magnussen – Photo: Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool

Haas’ Resurgence

Haas have been on an upwards trend over the course of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season with new team boss Ayao Komatsu stepping in for long serving team principal Guenther Steiner. Hülkenberg has done very well, despite a move to Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber for 2025 already announced and official. Kevin Magnussen has had a tough year personally and is at risk of losing his seat in 2025, but he has done better lately – almost scoring points in the Austria Sprint and finishing eighth in the full Grand Prix.

In the last few rounds they’ve dramatically improved in terms of pace, which is thanks to a series of upgrades on the car, which have had the opposite effect to the ones RB introduced in Spain. Komatsu is partly responsible for these upgrades, and is actively involved in strategy on the pitwall due to his engineering background, which Steiner couldn’t offer. It’s clear they’re on an upwards trajectory, which will please Gene Haas after a poor year in 2023.

Ricciardo Red Bull Rumours Directly Affect RB

Ricciardo has a had a confusing season for RB, on and off the track. While his on track performances have been mixed, with the Australian finding consistency after a tricky first few rounds of the season, rumours about his future have also been attracting lots of attention. Dr. Helmut Marko has suggested that he wants Liam Lawson put into the junior team, while also suggesting Ricciardo’s performances have not been good enough to warrant a position alongside Tsunoda in 2025. These rumours have been hit back at by both Christian Horner, Peter Bayer and Laurent Mekies countless times, with all of them saying no such decision will be made until the summer break.

A few weeks ago, fans of Ricciardo would’ve been worried about his future in F1, but now they’ll be getting excited about a potential swap to Oracle Red Bull Racing after a string of poor performances from current number two driver, Sergio Pérez. The Mexican has only recently signed a new contract but it reportedly has clauses, which take the point difference between himself and Max Verstappen into account along with others and more recent reports suggest Ricciardo will be the one to replace Pérez if his bad form continues.

If Ricciardo returns to Red Bull in a race seat, then it directly affects RB. Pérez is unlikely to stay within the Red Bull family and he certainly won’t be a candidate for RB, and that’s mainly due to Lawson, who has been waiting for a race seat ever since his impressive cameo in 2023 when Ricciardo was kept out of action for Scuderia AlphaTauri with a broken wrist. While Lawson is capable of performances, it takes time to get comfortable in a car and with all the pressure on him to score points and help RB in the battle for sixth, it will certainly have an affect on RB, whether that’s good or bad, we won’t know until it happens (if it even does).

A mid season driver swap for Red Bull would directly affect RB – Photo: Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool

The Remaining 12 Rounds

We can’t predict the remaining 12 rounds of the F1 season as we’ll never get that right, but we predict a tight battle between RB and Haas, which could be affected by a number of different factors. If RB understand their upgrade package, they could easily return to the top of the midfield, while more upgrades for Haas could move them comfortably ahead of the Italian team.

If Magussen matches or even gets near Hülkenberg then Haas’ chances will be boosted, while RB will be hoping that Ricciardo and Tsunoda will continue to be close to each other, especially after the improvement the Australian has seen in recent rounds. A mid-season driver change could add something to the battle too, with instant pressure on Lawson to perform in that seat, if Ricciardo returns to Red Bull.

All we know is that it’ll surely be a close battle all the way to the last round at the Yas Marina Circuit in December, and while it’s very interesting at the top of the pack with a battle for the Constructors Championship, it’s just as exciting in the midfield with such few positions available to score points behind the big four.

The Standings

Constructors:

POS	TEAM	PTS
1	RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT	373
2	FERRARI	302
3	MCLAREN MERCEDES	295
4	MERCEDES	221
5	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	68
6	RB HONDA RBPT	31
7	HAAS FERRARI	27
8	ALPINE RENAULT	9
9	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	4
10	KICK SAUBER FERRARI	0

Drivers:

POS	DRIVER	NATIONALITY	CAR	PTS
1	Max Verstappen	NED	RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT	255
2	Lando Norris	GBR	MCLAREN MERCEDES	171
3	Charles Leclerc	MON	FERRARI	150
4	Carlos Sainz	ESP	FERRARI	146
5	Oscar Piastri	AUS	MCLAREN MERCEDES	124
6	Sergio Perez	MEX	RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT	118
7	George Russell	GBR	MERCEDES	111
8	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	MERCEDES	110
9	Fernando Alonso	ESP	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	45
10	Lance Stroll	CAN	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	23
11	Nico Hulkenberg	GER	HAAS FERRARI	22
12	Yuki Tsunoda	JPN	RB HONDA RBPT	20
13	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	RB HONDA RBPT	11
14	Oliver Bearman	GBR	FERRARI	6
15	Pierre Gasly	FRA	ALPINE RENAULT	6
16	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	HAAS FERRARI	5
17	Alexander Albon	THA	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	4
18	Esteban Ocon	FRA	ALPINE RENAULT	3
19	Zhou Guanyu	CHN	KICK SAUBER FERRARI	0
20	Logan Sargeant	USA	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	0
21	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	KICK SAUBER FERRARI	0