Red Bull may slow the development pace of the RB22 in the upcoming stages of the Formula 1 season, even with Max Verstappen insisting that the car still needs to evolve. The team’s chief, Laurent Mekies, confirmed that the priority between the current project and the 2027 program will have to be decided earlier than it was last year.
The statement reinforces the dilemma teams face amid the budget cap and the need to split resources between developing the current car and shaping the rules for the future. While Verstappen would like to see updates to the RB22 extend for as long as possible, Mekies indicated that this scenario may not come to pass.
Asked by GPblog about Red Bull’s plans for the remainder of the season, the official explained that the team will need to make a decision soon. “At some point we’ll have to decide the balance between this year and next. I hope that happens earlier than we did last year, especially because of the current regulations. So we will decide,” he stated.
Mekies highlighted that Red Bull has carried out an intense development push since the season began in an effort to close the RB22’s initial gap. “We brought a huge amount of development to the car between the first race and this stage, trying to fix as quickly as possible the large deficit we had at the start. It’s hard to imagine we’ll keep this pace, but we still need to find the best way to try to erase those last three tenths,” he added, without revealing when a new upgrade package might debut.
On the other side of the debate, Andrea Stella stated that McLaren still believes there is significant performance to be extracted from the current cars. According to the team principal, there is still up to half a second per lap available through upgrades, which he labeled as relatively clear opportunities, the so-called “low-hanging fruit.”
Still, Stella acknowledged that McLaren faces the same strategic challenge as Red Bull. “In our approach to the budget cap, we knew 2026 would be less about the starting point and more about racing to develop the car. That’s why we left enough headroom in the budget to keep investing in updates,” he explained.
The executive emphasized, however, that the budget is not the only constraint. “You can front-load some of next year’s resources if you want to focus on this season, but there comes a point where the decision depends on which season receives priority. It’s not merely about money. There are also design limitations and even wind tunnel usage constraints, because you have to decide whether it will be used for this year’s car or for the next. Part of the answer also depends on when you decide to shift the entire focus,” he concluded.
