Red Bull keeps searching for RB22 fix after degradation issue
NXTbets Pro | Published On: September 16, 2026
RB22 degradation
Laurent Mekies said Max Verstappen was right about the RB22’s biggest problem, the car loses performance as a session or race goes on. Red Bull still has not solved the drop-off, and Mekies described it as a complex issue that has been hard to understand from the start. He said the problem is not new and that the team has kept working on it, but the car can still drift out of its narrow operating window as the run unfolds. Mekies pointed to the rear axle as one area where the issue can bite, which makes the balance problem harder to pin down and harder to keep under control over a full stint. The comments frame a car that can still show speed, then fade as conditions change and the laps pile up. Red Bull’s task is not simply to find more pace. It has to find a way to hold the pace it already has for longer.
Red Bull progress
Mekies said Red Bull did make some progress in Madrid, and he treated that step as part of a wider effort to understand the car rather than a final answer. The changes there improved the team’s grasp of the problem, even if they did not fix it. He said Red Bull is attacking the issue in small steps, which fits the way the team has approached a problem that has resisted a quick solution. The work has focused on building understanding before chasing a full cure, and Mekies said a complete fix is not expected soon. He also said the issue could carry into next year, which shows how deep the challenge has become. Red Bull has not revealed the exact cause, and Mekies did not suggest the answer is close. The message is clear. The team has moved past the stage of asking whether the issue exists. It now has to keep narrowing the field until it can isolate what is making the RB22 fall away during races.
Verstappen and Red Bull
Verstappen’s second straight podium finish at the Spanish Grand Prix offered Red Bull some relief, but it did not change the larger picture around the team’s season. Verstappen remains winless in 2026, and Red Bull has yet to win a race this year. That puts the team in position to face its first winless season since Verstappen drove for Toro Rosso in 2015. The dry spell adds weight to Mekies’ assessment of the car’s underlying issue, because the problem is no longer just about one difficult race or one bad setup window. It has become part of the season-long story. Red Bull can still put Verstappen on the podium, and he can still extract a result when the car gives him a chance. The missing piece is race-winning consistency. Until the RB22 can stay inside its operating window for longer and stop fading over the course of a run, Red Bull will keep chasing an answer that has already outlasted more than one stretch of the season.
