Red Bull set to introduce major upgrade package at Spielberg

Red Bull will arrive at the Austrian Grand Prix with a significant upgrade package for the RB22 — but the team has already admitted that the new parts will not be enough to close the gap to Formula One’s current frontrunners.

After a difficult Barcelona‑Catalunya weekend in which the team finished behind Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren on pure pace, both Laurent Mekies and Max Verstappen offered a sober assessment of Red Bull’s competitive reality and the scale of development still required.

The team did introduce updates in Barcelona, including revised front‑wing geometries aimed at improving local load and flow conditioning, as well as a more cambered flap assembly to widen the balance range.

These changes were designed to stabilise the RB22’s front‑end behaviour and improve consistency across corner types. But the gains were not enough to lift Red Bull into podium contention, and Verstappen’s fourth place came only after a lonely, damage‑limitation race.

Mekies was frank about the situation. “We already know that they will not be enough to fill the gap to the best. We’ll have to do something else.”

The Frenchman stressed that Red Bull is no longer in a position to fight for the podium at every race, noting that while the team performed well in Canada and Monaco, Barcelona exposed the RB22’s weaknesses on high‑speed, high‑load circuits. “We are not in no man’s land, we are in the fight for the Top 4. But we can’t fight for the podium in every race.”

Verstappen echoed this sentiment, describing the Spanish Grand Prix as one of the toughest weekends of the season. “I was a bit lucky with fourth place and it was a lonely race for me. I think that with all three compounds we were slower than the cars in front of us.”

He added that tyre degradation and high‑speed performance remain key areas where Red Bull must improve. “We just need to work harder and bring more performance to the car. It’s clear that we’re behind Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren.”

The upcoming Austrian Grand Prix will see Red Bull introduce a more substantial upgrade package, including further aerodynamic refinements and weight‑reduction measures.

Mekies confirmed that the Milton Keynes factory is working at full capacity to deliver the next step, but he cautioned that expectations must remain realistic.

“Our next package of news will arrive in Austria. It’s going to be important. But we have no doubt that even when we introduce these new features, they will not be enough. So we will need other news to improve further.”