Need For Sustainable Speed: Oracle & Red Bull's F1 Advances

Oracle Red Bull Racing is steaming ahead with a fresh commitment to enhance their Formula 1 campaign.

Ahead of the Australian Grand Prix on 16 March 2025, the team unveiled its plans to propel its usage of Oracle Cloud and AI technologies across the rest of the 2025 season.

The team taps into Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), deploying billions of simulations to sharpen their strategies.

The crew hopes that the Oracle system can give them the edge of the competition, allowing them to monitor car performance, track details and competitors’ moves.

Since shifting their strategic infrastructure to OCI in 2021, Oracle Red Bull Racing has seen its simulation speed jump by 25%.

This technological edge has translated into a notable performance edge in recent seasons, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen taking the crown every year since 2021.

“Since the start of our partnership, Oracle has given us a technical advantage that has helped us win races, championships and fans,” remarks Christian Horner, CEO and Team Principal of Oracle Red Bull Racing.

“Performance gains are the lifeblood of competition in F1, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure is the best choice to help us reach our goals on the track.”

Moreover, the technological advancements that Oracle's involvement brings are also hugely beneficial to Oracle Red Bull's sustainability, with OCI helping to improve the fuel efficiency of team vehicles.

2026: A year of reckoning for F1

The sustainable steps Oracle and Red Bull take today are important preparations for the 2026 season, which will be the beginning of a totally new era for F1.

The FIA (the managing body of F1) has mandated the use of 100% sustainable fuel derived from 'Advanced Sustainable Components' from the 2026 Formula 1 season.

Essentially, this means that all fuels used by track vehicles must come from sustainable feedstocks and meet stringent greenhouse gas emissions thresholds.

It will be a complete overhaul of the sport.

All carbon present in F1 fuel must be produced from either non-food sources, genuine municipal waste, or even the atmosphere. 

Oracle Red Bull's fuel partner, Esso, has confirmed that it is working toward 100% sustainable fuels that don’t sacrifice power output.

"Personally, from a sporting perspective, looking at what the future engine of Formula 1 should be beyond this next generation, particularly with the way that sustainable fuel is going, it does open up all kinds of opportunities," Christian explains.

These innovations and preparations are not limited to the Red Bull Racing team, though. Elsewhere, Toto Wolff, CEO of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team, is excited, if slightly trepidatious about next season.

"We are pushing the boundaries of battery technology and for sustainability it's the first year we're having 100% sustainable fuel," he says.

"Nobody knows where all of this is going to pan out."

Why Oracle is standardising its tech system across its F1 operations

Starting this season, Oracle Red Bull Racing is standardising its infrastructure by integrating Oracle Virtualisation, Oracle Linux and Oracle Cloud Native Environment across all trackside operations.

This uniform approach not only enhances the efficiency but also simplifies the technological environment for the team, enabling seamless swapping of tasks across locations — be it trackside, the factory or in a remote location.

With Oracle Linux at the helm, which is also the foundation for OCI, there’s a synergy in the operating environments, ensuring that team members face no hitches when dealing with identical operations across different platforms.

Efficiency is one of the cornerstones of sustainability, and Oracle is set on becoming as efficient as possible in its involvement with F1.

The ability to work from anywhere in the world will also make a positive impact on the team's carbon footprint.

This strategic coherence has been received very well by industry experts.

“Oracle Red Bull Racing has approached its technology strategy with the same relentless focus on performance that has underpinned its dominance on the track,” says Karan Batta, Senior Vice President of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

“Our collective success is a testament to the performance and flexibility of Oracle Cloud and our teams' collaborative effort to push the boundaries of innovation.”

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