After praise for engine, Red Bull weighs RB22 overhaul

Rival teams regard Red Bull’s new power unit as strong in the squad’s first year as an engine manufacturer, but the team’s 2026 slump has been traced inside the factory to persistent RB22 chassis problems. After three races the squad had just 16 points and sat sixth in the Constructors’ Championship — their worst opening sequence since 2008 — and engineers are privately debating whether the RB22 should be heavily revised or even scrapped.

Technical staff and drivers singled out the chassis rather than the power unit. Isack Hadjar described the RB22 as a “terrible” chassis, “just slow in the corners,” and warned the team currently has “no lead on how we can make a fast one,” while saying drivers can still “drive the car fast.” Team principal Laurent Mekies said the expected gap to Mercedes has widened to roughly a second and about half a second to Ferrari, that the squad has been “starting to scratch heads” since China, and that engineers are diagnosing complex balance and lift/extraction problems while carrying out targeted development work. The team plans to use an enforced five-week break to work intensively on the RB22 ahead of Miami.

Those technical setbacks have fuelled internal unease. Sources reported staff privately questioning whether the team were better off under Christian Horner, and long-serving mechanic Ole Schack resigned citing a changed working atmosphere. Horner still retains supporters within the factory after two decades and eight title-winning campaigns, but Mekies — who took over in July and initially helped reignite Max Verstappen’s title bid last season — now faces increased scrutiny over his leadership and technical direction. The situation has also heightened pressure on Verstappen, who has threatened to retire at the end of the season and has partly linked that threat to the 2026 regulations. Any decision to abandon or deeply rework the RB22 would carry major logistical and competitive consequences, and reports stress such moves remain internal discussions rather than confirmed decisions.