Red Bull enters the Formula 1 summer break in fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship, but the team’s internal numbers indicate a significant evolution of the RB22 throughout the season. Despite the performance recovery, team principal Laurent Mekies admits it will be difficult to maintain the same development pace in the second half of the championship.
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Data from Paceteq, Red Bull’s analysis partner, shows that the car was between 1.2 and 1.3 seconds per lap behind the ideal pace in the Australian and Chinese rounds, a performance that placed the team at a level similar to Haas and Alpine. Before the summer break, however, this gap dropped to something between 0.2 and 0.3 seconds per lap, indicating a recovery of approximately one second.
This evolution was driven by two major update packages introduced in Miami and Austria. Red Bull made significant changes to the RB22’s aerodynamic concept, including a new side design, as well as reducing the car’s weight. While Mercedes boss Toto Wolff questioned how Ferrari seemed capable of bringing “unlimited” updates to the tracks, the Italian team itself pointed out that Red Bull presented even more technical novelties in the first races of the year.
Despite the advances, Mekies acknowledged that this pace will hardly be maintained. “We brought a huge amount of improvements to the car between the first race and now, to correct as quickly as possible the big deficit we had. It is hard to imagine that we will continue at this pace. Even so, we need to find the best way to recover those last three tenths,” he said.
According to the executive, the final stretch of development is usually the most complicated, mainly because competitors also continue evolving their cars. The scenario is reinforced by the assessment of McLaren boss Andrea Stella, who believes that any team interested in fighting for wins in the second half of the season will need to find about half a second of performance by the end of the championship.
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Besides the limitations imposed by the budget cap, teams need to decide how to distribute resources between the current car and the 2027 project, including the use of the wind tunnel and the development department.
Mekies revealed that Red Bull will adopt a different strategy from last year. In 2025, the team focused its efforts on developing the car to reduce the gap to McLaren and keep Max Verstappen in the title fight, a decision that, according to technical director Pierre Waché, ended up harming preparation for the following season.
Now, the intention is to anticipate the shift in focus. “I don’t know how it works with other teams, but it’s certain that, at some point, we will need 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,” Mekies concluded.
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