Max Verstappen is dealing with a recurring issue in the Red Bull Racing car during Formula 1 race weekends in the 2026 season, and the team admitted that it will not be able to resolve it completely with the RB22. According to Red Bull’s chief, Laurent Mekies, the problem is tied to the degradation of performance over a session or a race.
The problem tends to appear mainly at the rear axle and returned to bother Verstappen in the Italian Grand Prix qualifying session, when the Dutch driver described the RB22 as “a car made of paper.” The four-time champion also stated that he had been raising concerns internally for a long time.
Mekies acknowledged that Red Bull had identified the existence of the problem, but avoided revealing its exact origin or the way they intend to eliminate it: “I think Max is right to say that there is an element of performance degradation in the car that happens during a session and during a race,” the team principal told Motorsport.com.
According to Mekies, the team began applying in Madrid some of the learnings obtained after Saturday in Monza. The problematic behavior did not appear in Madrid with the same intensity, indicating some progress in understanding the issue: “We do not yet have all the solutions in the car, but I trust that we are on the right track. It won’t be quick, so it’s something that will probably accompany us during the next year,” the team principal added.
The limitation for 2026 arises because certain changes would require larger alterations to the RB22’s design and chassis, while the budget cap also constrains possibilities over the season. Mekies admitted that the problem could reappear in upcoming races: “There are some aspects of the car’s performance that sometimes do not stay at the ideal level. And that represents significant lap time,” he concluded.
Verstappen has already acknowledged that he is not in the title fight and his main objective is to secure a victory before the end of the current season. If that doesn’t happen, it will be the first time since 2015, when he was still racing for Toro Rosso (now Racing Bulls), that the Dutch driver would finish a year without winning any Grand Prix.
