Despite the regulation change in 2026, Red Bull still carries one of its historical weaknesses. Max Verstappen acknowledges that the team is still struggling to understand how to fix it.
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The cars change, the regulations evolve, but some problems persist at Red Bull. For several seasons, Max Verstappen has complained about the behavior of his car on bumps and curbs, a particularly penalizing weakness on street circuits. And despite the arrival of a brand new generation of Formula 1 in 2026, the problem has still not disappeared.
The four-time world champion experienced it again last weekend in Monza. Despite his third place, Verstappen pointed out the behavior of the rear end of his RB22, which he judged insufficiently effective on bumps and curbs. A weakness that could once again complicate Red Bull’s task this weekend on the new urban circuit of Madrid.
A weakness that Red Bull has known for a long time
The problem is far from new. Red Bull has regularly encountered difficulties on tracks where drivers have to use the curbs a lot or deal with an uneven surface. Verstappen acknowledges that the team has been working for a long time to find a solution, without managing to completely eliminate this flaw.
“It’s a problem we’ve known for a long time. So we try to understand it, fix it, and make progress in this area.”
The Dutchman’s observation remains the same despite the changes made to the car and the regulation change.
“We just know that curbs and bumps are not what our car likes the most.”
This characteristic has notably penalized Red Bull on several street circuits in recent years. With the arrival of the Madring on the calendar, the problem could once again be highlighted.
“I was already complaining about it before”
Even more surprisingly, some characteristics of previous Red Bulls seem to have survived the complete change in technical regulations that took place this season. Verstappen confirms that part of the DNA of the old cars is still found in the RB22.
“Yes, some things have clearly been inherited from previous cars. I was already complaining about the car’s behavior and the curbs before, and I still complain about it today.”
The persistence of this weakness does not mean, however, that Red Bull ignores it. Engineers are still trying to understand precisely its origin and determine what changes would make the car more effective on uneven surfaces.
“There are obviously elements we are studying to try to fix this. Unfortunately, the answer is neither very clear nor obvious, otherwise we would of course have already solved these problems.”
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Why can’t Red Bull find the solution ?
Verstappen explains that the main obstacle lies in the very complexity of a Formula 1 car. A problematic behavior does not necessarily come from a single part or a precise setting that would just need to be changed.
Several elements can interact and together produce a flaw that becomes extremely difficult to isolate. Changing one of them can also have consequences on other performance areas, forcing engineers to seek a compromise.
“Formula 1 can sometimes be extremely complicated. It is not always possible to identify a specific problem, because it can be several elements that, together, end up creating this weakness.”
Red Bull must therefore understand all these interactions before hoping to really make progress.
“You have to manage to identify all these details on the car to try to get better in a particular area.”
Madrid, a new test for the RB22
The first Grand Prix held at the Madring will be an interesting test to measure the extent of the problem. The new Spanish track combines fast sections with much more technical sectors and, like any street circuit, should force the drivers to deal with curbs and some irregularities.
Red Bull nevertheless has several reasons to hope. The circuit has relatively few long fast corners, another area in which the RB22 has sometimes suffered this season, while the energy management problems encountered in Monza should be less significant.
But for Verstappen, the car’s behavior on bumps and curbs remains an important unknown. On a completely new track where confidence will be essential to approach the walls and gradually push the limits, this weakness could quickly become penalizing.
A problem that spans generations
The difficulty encountered by Red Bull also illustrates how some characteristics can survive from one generation of car to another. Each team develops its car according to its own philosophy and some particularities thus end up constituting a form of technical DNA.
In the case of Red Bull, this continuity is not always positive. Despite a completely renewed regulation in 2026, Verstappen finds behind the wheel of the RB22 a behavior he already criticized with his previous cars.
Red Bull is therefore still working to eliminate this weakness, but Verstappen acknowledges that no obvious solution has yet been identified. In Madrid, the bumps and curbs could once again remind the team that despite the regulation change, some of its old problems are still very much present.
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