Red Bull’s major Baku upgrade package has delivered encouraging early signs, with Max Verstappen particularly pleased by the balance of the RB22 after the opening day of Azerbaijan Grand Prix practice. The new components appear to be behaving as expected, potentially even better than the team had hoped, although one important weakness remains to be addressed overnight: the car’s behaviour over Baku’s bumps.
Red Bull has often performed well this season on circuits dominated by slow corners and strong acceleration zones, but the most encouraging aspect for Verstappen was the absence of the significant balance problems that have troubled the RB22 elsewhere. The car now appears capable of remaining in the fight for the podium, even if Mercedes still looked out of reach on outright pace during Thursday’s running.
Red Bull Baku upgrades deliver encouraging first signs
Red Bull arrived in Azerbaijan with a substantial development package that is expected to represent the final major evolutionary step for the RB22 this season. The team has already begun shifting a significant proportion of its development resources towards the 2027 car, partly because of budget considerations after the extensive series of changes introduced earlier this year to address the RB22’s weaknesses.
Team principal Laurent Mekies has confirmed that a considerable share of Red Bull’s resources is now being redirected towards next season. That does not mean the team has abandoned its objectives for the remainder of 2026, however, with a first Grand Prix victory of the season still firmly among its targets.
One weakness has been evident since the beginning of the year: Red Bull has lacked something in outright top speed, even compared with sister team Racing Bulls. Mekies nevertheless reiterated in Baku that winning remains a realistic objective, even if challenging the current Mercedes package remains extremely difficult.
The opening practice sessions provided some encouragement beyond the headline gap to the front. Nobody at Red Bull expected the new package to eliminate the deficit completely, but for a team that has often struggled more than expected on the first day of a Grand Prix weekend, the initial feedback was positive.
Max Verstappen pleased with RB22 balance after upgrades
There are two particularly encouraging elements for Red Bull. First, the new parts appear to be operating as intended, which is always significant when development work involves particularly sensitive aerodynamic areas. Second, the overall feeling reported from the cockpit has been positive, something that has not always been guaranteed with the RB22.
“It was actually quite a positive day,” Max Verstappen said. “I’m quite happy with the car. We still need to fine-tune a few details and try to find a little more lap time, but overall it was a good start, with the upgrades behaving as we expected.”
That feedback gives Red Bull confidence that it can remain in the mix for a podium during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend. Mercedes still appears to have a significant advantage, continuing the pattern seen during a season in which the W17 has established itself as the benchmark package. The scale of that advantage has already raised questions over just how dominant the Mercedes W17 has become in 2026.
Slow corners again suit the Red Bull RB22
This is not the first time Red Bull has shown encouraging pace at a circuit featuring slow corners and repeated acceleration zones. Similar characteristics helped the RB22 perform competitively in Canada, Monaco and Austria.
Baku presents a particularly unusual challenge, however, because teams must combine performance through its slow and technical sections with efficiency along the exceptionally long flat-out run towards Turn 1.
That compromise has exposed the main area Red Bull must work on overnight: ride height.
Baku bumps create Red Bull’s biggest overnight problem
Although the 2026 Formula 1 cars are no longer built around the same ground-effect concept used between 2022 and 2025, finding the correct ride-height compromise remains far from straightforward.
Verstappen had already complained in Canada about an extremely stiff car that tended to bounce through braking zones. A similar challenge exists in Baku. Red Bull wants to keep the RB22 as close to the asphalt as possible along the long straight to minimise drag, but that objective conflicts with the characteristics of a street circuit.
Parts of the Baku track have been resurfaced, yet numerous bumps remain. During both practice sessions, Verstappen highlighted that the rear of the RB22 did not always respond consistently over those uneven sections.
This will be one of Red Bull’s main areas of overnight work. The positive element is that the drivers’ complaints are predominantly related to managing the car’s ride height rather than its fundamental aerodynamic balance.
Red Bull avoids understeer and oversteer problems seen elsewhere
The RB22 did not appear excessively affected by either understeer or oversteer, two characteristics that have compromised Red Bull at other circuits this year.
That was reflected particularly in Baku’s more technical second sector, where the car produced encouraging reference times and appeared strong compared with Ferrari and McLaren. Red Bull inevitably surrendered some performance on the straights, meaning qualifying could also bring strategic considerations over how the two cars use slipstreams to maximise straight-line speed.
More importantly, Verstappen appears to have confidence through the narrow castle section. Instead of chasing a fundamental balance correction, the engineers can focus on making the car more compliant over the bumps and improving its stability under braking and when the drivers return to the throttle.
Pierre Waché encouraged by Red Bull simulator correlation
Technical director Pierre Waché does not appear overly concerned by the issue because the ride-height sensitivity is less damaging in Baku than it has been at some other tracks. However, altering the car’s height always carries a degree of risk because it can move the RB22 away from its optimal aerodynamic operating window.
“It is quite positive both in terms of the balance of the car and what the upgrade is delivering,” Pierre Waché explained. “There is good correlation with the simulator in that respect.”
“We still have some issues with managing the ride heights of the car that we are trying to solve, but the main complaints are coming from there, not from the upgrade or from the balance.”
Waché believes the priority is now to make the rear of the car more composed over Baku’s uneven surface, allowing Verstappen to exploit more of the RB22’s aerodynamic performance.
“The main issue is that we need to make sure we make the car more stable over the bumps, especially at the rear, so that it can maximise the potential of the car and, in particular, its aerodynamic potential.”
Red Bull therefore leaves the opening day in Baku with more encouragement than concern. The final major RB22 development package appears to have delivered the behaviour expected from the simulations, Verstappen is happier with the underlying balance, and the team believes it can remain involved in the podium battle.
The challenge overnight is now much more specific: finding a way to soften the RB22’s response to Baku’s bumps without sacrificing the aerodynamic platform that has given Verstappen confidence through the corners.
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