Red Bull may slow down the development pace of the RB22 in the upcoming stages of the Formula 1 season, even with Max Verstappen insisting that the car still needs to evolve. The team principal, Laurent Mekies, confirmed that the priority between the current project and the 2027 one should be defined earlier than it was last year.
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The statement reinforces the dilemma faced by teams amid the budget cap and the need to divide resources between the development of the current car and the future regulations. While Verstappen would like to see the RB22 receiving updates for as long as possible, Mekies indicated that this scenario may not materialize.
Asked by GPblog about Red Bull’s plans for the rest of the season, the director explained that the team will need to make a decision soon. “At some point we will have to decide the balance between this year and next. I hope this happens earlier than we did last year, especially because of the current regulations. So we will decide,” he said.
Mekies highlighted that Red Bull has carried out intense development work since the start of the season in an attempt to reduce the initial disadvantage of the RB22. “We brought a huge amount of development to the car between the first race and this stage, trying to fix as quickly as possible the big deficit we had at the start. It is hard to imagine that we will continue at this pace, but we still need to find the best way to try to eliminate those last three tenths,” he added, without revealing when a new update package might debut.
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On the other side of the battle, Andrea Stella stated that McLaren still believes there is significant performance to be extracted from the current cars. According to the team principal, there is still up to half a second per lap available through updates, classified by him as relatively obvious opportunities, the so-called “low-hanging fruit.”
Even so, Stella acknowledged that McLaren faces the same strategic challenge as Red Bull. “In our approach to the budget cap, we knew that 2026 would be less about the starting point and more about the race to develop the car. Therefore, we left enough margin in the budget to continue investing in updates,” he explained.
The director pointed out, however, that the budget is not the only limitation. “You can anticipate part of next year’s resources if you want to focus on this season, but there comes a time when the decision depends on which season gets priority. It’s not just a matter of money. There are also design limitations and even wind tunnel usage, because you have to decide whether it will be used for this year’s car or next year’s. Part of that answer depends on when you decide to completely shift focus,” he concluded.
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