Overview
- Red Bull this week formally acknowledged a recurring performance degradation on Max Verstappen’s RB22 that causes lap time to fall through qualifying sessions and races.
- Team principal Laurent Mekies said the problem is not a single broken part but a complex drop in ride performance around the rear axle that shows up as the car ‘degrading’ during running.
- Red Bull reported small, constructive gains after applying lessons from Monza and testing tweaks at the Madring but said those steps did not eliminate the fault.
- The team says a full remedy cannot be completed on the 2026 car because meaningful changes require chassis and design work targeted for the 2027 package and are limited by development rules and budgets.
- The issue raises pressure on Verstappen’s results this season and forces Red Bull to balance short-term fixes with a longer development programme that could reshape 2027 priorities.