Red Bull faces performance concerns as RB22 lacks balance, downforce, and consistency
The second golden era of Red Bull Racing appears to have officially come to an end in the 2026 Formula 1 season. While it is true that the Milton Keynes-based team did not add further trophies to its already impressive collection in 2025, Max Verstappen came extremely close to securing his fifth career world title, missing out by just two points after an extraordinary comeback throughout the season.
With the conclusion of the ground-effect regulation cycle, the Austrian-British team has encountered significant difficulties with its new challenger, the RB22. This challenging situation is also the result of having continued to develop the RB21 until the very end of the previous campaign, in a final push to secure the 2025 Drivers’ Championship.
Laurent Mekies openly acknowledged this scenario, admitting that the team has found itself facing a situation that was difficult to predict. Initially, expectations had been relatively low regarding the Red Bull-Ford power unit. However, the engine has performed better than anticipated, while the RB22 chassis has instead emerged as the main source of concern.
A lack of downforce combined with an unstable balance—described as constantly shifting from one extreme to another—has made the car extremely difficult to handle for both Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar. The unpredictable nature of the RB22 has significantly limited the drivers’ ability to extract consistent performance across different circuits and conditions.
Isack Hadjar, who has been delivering solid performances alongside the highly demanding Max Verstappen, has provided one of the clearest assessments of the current situation. The French driver openly described the challenges involved in unlocking the potential of the RB22.
“There is a big difference between the RB21 and this year’s car. It is completely new. I think last year’s car was very fast. It was difficult to drive, but fast. Our current car is difficult to drive and slow. So we need more efficiency.”
“Lap after lap, session after session, you always have to guess what to expect. It is not a good feeling to continue like this. We still have not understood which direction we need to take.”
“We do not have downforce. That is the issue. We are forced to go in one direction and then immediately another. The balance changes very quickly.”
The RB22 was also launched with excess weight, and from the early pre-season tests, Red Bull had already realized that it would need to endure a difficult start to the campaign. This became even clearer once the team assessed the level of performance shown by rival cars, particularly those from Mercedes, Ferrari, and McLaren.
“At the beginning, we went to Melbourne thinking we were one second behind Mercedes and about half a second away,” Laurent Mekies stated after the Japanese Grand Prix. “I think the biggest difference in Melbourne was that McLaren looked within reach. And in fact, Max came back from twentieth position to overtake what was the leading McLaren, I believe driven by Lando Norris.”
“Then we saw that gap increase significantly in China. And you saw us starting to really scratch our heads there regarding the balance and characteristics of the car.”
“And then in Japan, Friday and Saturday did not look good at all. There is certainly nothing to celebrate today, but in terms of the overall gap to the competition, the situation did not look too different from Melbourne, with about one second to the fastest and half a second to the best Ferrari. But now McLaren is at the same level. So we are a distant force. That is the reality.”
“I think it is a combination of underlying performance, whether in Melbourne or here. So there is still work to do. And one aspect is that we are not able to extract enough from the package and give Max something he can really push with.”
“I am not suggesting that it is purely a setup issue. I am just saying that there is something we are struggling with on that car, which adds to our lack of base performance. Trying to solve these kinds of complex issues and understanding these limitations is our core business.”
“So as difficult as it is to find ourselves behind the leading teams right now, this is exactly what our system is designed for: to dig into complex limitations like these, identify them precisely, and then develop solutions to mitigate and improve them.”
“Even if the situation is difficult at the moment, I have full confidence that this is exactly what our team excels at.”
In recent days, several rumors have emerged regarding the position of Pierre Waché, Red Bull’s technical director and one of the key figures behind the RB22 project. However, the team continues to express full confidence in the French engineer.
Early signs of recovery could already be seen at the Miami Grand Prix, where the cars featuring the iconic Red Bull branding on the nose and engine cover are expected to show encouraging improvements. A first phase of weight reduction, combined with targeted aerodynamic updates, is expected to help the RB22 move closer to the performance level required to compete consistently at the front of the Formula 1 grid.
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