Team principal Laurent Mekies admitted the squad is still “wrestling” with its RB22, a car that has proven challenging when it comes to consistently extracting lap time and performance.
Although Mekies believes the car’s overall pace aligns with what was anticipated during pre-season testing, Red Bull have struggled to unlock any additional speed, leaving uncertainty over their true position in the competitive order.
“We left Melbourne thinking we were one second off Mercedes and half-a-second off Ferrari,” Mekies said.
“The biggest difference in Melbourne was that McLaren looked in reach there and Max came back from P20 to be bumping into the first McLaren, of Lando Norris.
“The gap was largely increasing in China, and you saw us starting to scratch our heads there about the car balance and car characteristics, and then [in Japan], there is certainly nothing to be happy about.
“But in terms of the overall gaps to our competitors, [Suzuka] did not look too dissimilar to Melbourne, of being one second to Mercedes, half-a-second to the best Ferrari and now McLaren.
“That’s the reality, it is a combination of underlying performance, and we need to do more work on developments, and there is a layer of us not being able to extract enough from the package to give Max something to push with.
“I’m not suggesting that it is set-up tuning, I am saying there is something we’re wrestling with the car, which adds to our underlying lack of performance.
“Trying to solve these complex issues and complex limitations is our core business, and as much as it feels bad right now, that’s precisely what the Red Bull campus is set up to do, to get to the bottom of complex limitations like these and nail them.
“[We will find] developments that can mitigate them and improve, and it feels bad now, but I have full confidence as that’s exactly what our team is very good at doing.”
The difficulties have been reflected in results. Max Verstappen sits ninth in the drivers’ standings with just 12 points, marking his slowest start to a campaign since 2016.
His season has lacked consistency, with a Q1 crash in Australia, a Q2 exit in Japan, and only one Q3 appearance, in China. His eighth-place finish in Japan further underlined the team’s struggles.
Verstappen has also grown increasingly frustrated with the new technical regulations, particularly the high-energy management demands during races, even hinting he could consider stepping away from Formula One.
As a team, Red Bull’s combined 16 points with Isack Hadjar represents their worst start since 2015.
