Red Bull admits Austria upgrade will not close RB22 gap to F1 frontrunners

Red Bull will take a significant upgrade package to the Austrian Grand Prix, but the team has already moved to temper expectations around the RB22’s next development step.

Barcelona exposed the RB22’s limits

Red Bull did not arrive in Spain empty-handed. The team introduced revised front-wing geometries intended to improve local load and flow conditioning, along with a more cambered flap assembly designed to broaden the car’s balance window.

“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,” Verstappen said.

His verdict underlined the scale of the problem. Tyre degradation and high-speed performance remain areas where Red Bull must find more. For further background on the team’s development direction, our earlier analysis of the Red Bull RB22 weight loss push examined why reducing mass could become an important part of the car’s recovery plan.

Mekies keeps expectations realistic

Mekies was equally direct about the competitive picture. “We already know that they will not be enough to fill the gap to the best. We’ll have to do something else,” he admitted.

That caution reflects Red Bull’s current position. Mekies said the team is not isolated from the fight, but no longer has a car capable of challenging for the podium at every venue. Monaco and Canada were stronger weekends, but Barcelona highlighted how exposed the RB22 can be 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,” Mekies said.

Austria upgrade is only the next step

The Austrian package will include further aerodynamic refinements and weight-reduction measures, with the Milton Keynes factory working at full capacity to deliver the update. But Red Bull is presenting it as part of a longer development chain, not a single corrective breakthrough.

“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,” Mekies said.

For Red Bull, Austria is therefore less a reset than a measuring point. The RB22 needs performance, consistency and tyre control — and the team knows one upgrade will not solve everything.