Red Bull faces a straightforward but significant performance drag as it works to steady its 2026 Formula 1 challenger: the RB22 is overweight. While the team continues to address balance and handling traits, insiders believe trimming mass is the quickest route to meaningful gains.
Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar have both endured difficult weekends at times as development has progressed. Team principal Laurent Mekies admitted earlier this year the squad was "wrestling" to understand what was happening as it introduced tweaks for Miami aimed at creating a more consistent platform.
There have been signs of progress: Verstappen started on the front row in Miami and delivered the team's first podium of the year with third in Canada. But Red Bull accepts it still needs a sizeable step before it can think about challenging the dominant Mercedes team.
Sources close to the team say the car's performance profile is currently being clouded by excess mass, potentially costing around two tenths of a second per lap. Although those sources would not specify how many kilograms over the 768kg minimum the RB22 sits, a 0.2s deficit would point to roughly 6-7kg.
Having begun the year believed to be heavier than it is now, Red Bull made a notable step in Miami to strip weight, with a further leap targeted for its home race in Austria in late-June. Beyond the pure lap-time hit, getting close to — or under — the limit would unlock other gains.
Teams below the minimum weight can reposition ballast to fine-tune centre of gravity and balance, improving handling and tyre management. Knowing its car lacks pure pace against main rivals, Red Bull has also been taking bigger set-up gambles in search of short-term payback — an approach that can just as easily backfire.
Mekies framed that mindset after a tricky Canada weekend for Verstappen, who complained of handling issues, particularly in qualifying. "We take risks every time we don't feel we are at the right balance, or at the right gap to competition.
"When you do take risks like that, you do explore set-up directions, with both cars.
"Then we improve our understanding of the car, what is working, what is not working, what is bringing something for quali, and what is bringing something for the race."
The aim is to reduce that reliance on risky set-ups as baseline performance improves and the RB22 edges closer to Mercedes.
Another long-standing weakness also needs attention: kerbs and bumps. The issue reappeared in Canada and is likely to be a factor in Monaco this weekend, and Mekies conceded the challenge lies in curing it without surrendering pace.
"The guys are doing all the analysis in the world back at the factory to try to come up with a solution that not only fix the issues, but fix the issues by bringing lap time," he said. "It will probably be quite easy to fix the issues, but it would make the car slower. So you want to fix the issues and to bring laptime. It's a complex issue, but we love complex issues.
"We have plenty of them and I have every confidence that in the same way that we have cracked quite fundamental issues since the beginning of the season, we will be managing to do a few more."
Asked if these were things that could be dialled out of this year's car, or whether that was a project for next year and beyond, Mekies said: "There is nothing yet that we are saying cannot be fixed in '26."
What to watch next: how the RB22 rides kerbs and bumps in Monaco, and whether the Austria package unlocks another significant weight drop. The ballast and set-up flexibility that comes with hitting the limit — plus any reduction in risk-taking — will be key indicators of whether Red Bull can close on the benchmark Mercedes.
---
*Originally published on [Formula 1 News](https://newsformula.one/article/red-bull-eyes-weight-loss-as-rb22-trails-by-around-0-2s). Visit for full coverage.*