Short answer: Red Bull Racing has struggled this season because of a combination of car balance and aero problems, reliability/odd failures at some races, and visible team morale and contract/drama making the difficulties feel bigger — that’s why fans and forums are calling it “bad” right now.

Quick scoop

  • The car has been “all over the place” on different tracks, producing extreme understeer at times and sudden oversteer at others, which makes it hard for drivers to get consistent lap times.
  • There have been high-profile reliability or electrical failures (for example a Monaco DNF described as the car “dropped dead”) that turned strong weekends into retirements or non-results.
  • Internal mood and reports of tension inside the team — plus contract/exit-clause stories around top drivers — have amplified the perception of turmoil beyond pure on-track performance.

What’s causing the performance drop (technical view)

  • Aerodynamic/balance window: Red Bull’s package appears to be extremely sensitive to setup and track conditions, so small changes produce big handling swings, hurting race pace consistency.
  • Tyre and setup interaction: Drivers have reported the car being “undriveable” on some weekends, suggesting the chassis/ride setup isn’t working well with available tyres and circuits.
  • Reliability glitches: Intermittent electronic or mechanical failures have turned potential podiums into retirements, worsening the results spreadsheet even when the car looked competitive earlier in sessions.

Non-technical (people, politics, perception)

  • Reaction to poor results is magnified because Red Bull had a long run of dominance; declines feel louder when expectations are so high.
  • Media pieces and insider commentary point to a souring mood in the garage and press speculation about driver contracts and internal pressure, which fuels fan discussions and forum threads.

What to watch next (short checklist)

  1. Updates to the aero package or revised setup directions from the factory. Teams often bring mid-season fixes; these are decisive if they restore a usable balance.
  2. Whether reliability issues repeat or are diagnosed and solved — singular faults can be fixed quickly, systemic faults take longer.
  1. Driver/management comments after a couple of upcoming races — if tone lightens and performance stabilises, problems may have been addressed; continued frustration signals deeper issues.

Example timeline (how this unfolded)

  • Early-season competitive problems and poor handling reports in China and other races created alarm.
  • By March–April analyses suggested Red Bull had regressed and journalists flagged internal turmoil as well as technical setbacks.
  • More recent incidents (e.g., Monaco retirement) reinforced concerns and drove louder forum discussion in June.

If you want, I can:

  • Produce a short timeline table of key race weekends and reported issues (HTML table per your rules).
  • Pull specific quotes from drivers and team principals for a clearer picture of tone and recovery plans.

Bottom note: Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.