Behind the difficulties of the RB22 was an unknown mechanical defect. Red Bull finally explains why Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar struggled to feel their car.
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The difficulties encountered by Red Bull since the start of the 2026 season are not only explained by an aerodynamic performance deficit. The Milton Keynes team revealed that a discreet but particularly handicapping mechanical problem had greatly complicated the task of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar during the first races.
According to technical director Pierre Waché, this defect simply prevented the drivers from properly feeling the behavior of the car through the steering wheel.
A mechanical defect that blurred the sensations
Since the first runs of the RB22, Verstappen had been particularly critical of his car.
From the Barcelona test run, the four-time world champion spoke of a car that was practically impossible to drive. In China, he went as far as to explain that it was impossible for him to find any reference point, each lap resembling more of a survival exercise.
The same observation came from Isack Hadjar, who described the RB22 as “terrible” after Suzuka, explaining that he constantly had to guess the car’s behavior from one lap to the next.
Red Bull finally identified the origin of the problem: a defect located at the rack and steering column level.
A problem now resolved
The team replaced the affected components completely to regain a more predictable behavior.
While this intervention did not transform the RB22 into a car capable of dominating the field, it allowed the drivers to regain better feedback at the wheel.
“We had mechanical problems that prevented the driver from properly feeling the car through the steering. We corrected this at the start of the season.”
Pierre Waché acknowledges that this anomaly added to the intrinsic limits of the car.
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“It took us a little time, but this problem added to the overall potential of the car. The drivers’ sensations were clearly affected. It’s no secret to anyone.”
An RB22 still difficult to exploit
Even after the disappearance of this steering problem and the arrival of a significant upgrade package in Miami — including notably a significant weight reduction and a redesign of the aerodynamic concept — the RB22 remains tricky to exploit.
Max Verstappen has certainly secured four podiums in the last seven rounds, but neither he nor Isack Hadjar have yet managed to extract a consistent level of performance from one weekend to another.
For Pierre Waché, these difficulties stem from the very characteristics of the car.
“As with all single-seaters, certain limits appear in how the driver can exploit the car and its level of downforce.”
Limits still present
The Red Bull technical director explains that the RB22 notably suffers from a lack of stability at corner entry as well as marked understeer in the middle of corners.
The team tries to correct these defects through various mechanical settings, without however managing to eliminate them completely.
“We have certain limits, like all racing cars, notably in terms of stability at corner entry and understeer in the middle of corners. We try to mitigate them through mechanical solutions.”
He also recalls that the RB22 had an aerodynamic downforce deficit compared to some competitors at the start of the season, which further complicated the drivers’ task.
While Red Bull has managed to solve this steering problem, the work is far from over. The second half of the season will have to confirm whether the upgrades introduced in recent months will finally allow Verstappen and Hadjar to have a more consistent and easier-to-exploit car.
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