Eight top-five finishes put Red Bull 47 clear after Texas

Red Bull opened Season 7 at the top of BOTT with 167 points, 47 ahead of Williams and 81 ahead of Haas.

The route is more interesting than the rank. Red Bull recorded one win, four podiums and eight top-five finishes from ten starts; Williams scored two wins, three podiums and four top fives from the same number of starts.

One victory, eight useful finishes

MacoDelVolante supplied the Red Bull win in D1 from pole. Gennaro1173, kelloggsrule and McBeth655 helped lift the podium count to four, while the broader entry converted eight of ten starts into top-five results.

Williams' two wins came through the recorded Texas results, but its 120-point total sat behind Red Bull because fewer of its starts remained inside the top five. BOTT counted the whole weekend, not merely the loudest trophies.

Three tables already point in different directions

Mercedes led the D0 constructors by three, Red Bull led D1 by four and Haas led D2 by eight. The BOTT lead therefore did not require Red Bull to control every division; it required the combined score to travel.

Texas offered the first useful distinction of Season 7: race wins measure peaks, BOTT measures accumulation. Red Bull left with the latter because eight top-five finishes are difficult to argue with and even harder to misplace on a spreadsheet.