Red Bull arrived at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg with what Max Verstappen himself labelled a “crucial” upgrade package for the RB22, yet Friday practice delivered more questions than answers for the Milton Keynes-based outfit.
Verstappen ended both FP1 and FP2 in fourth position, finishing more than half a second adrift of pace-setter Kimi Antonelli, who completed a dominant Friday for the session’s leading team. The gap underlined the scale of the work Red Bull faces ahead of qualifying, with the team yet to extract meaningful data from a package that includes a revised floor, updated sidepods, and a weight reduction.
The most pressing concern identified on Friday was an engine-related anomaly at Turn 3, where the Red Bull power unit was losing revs at the apex, forcing drivers to wait for the engine to recover before reapplying throttle. Verstappen, a four-time world champion, described the behaviour as “hit-and-miss” over team radio, with junior partner Isack Hadjar offering a near-identical assessment.
“It’s like the rears are grabbing, locking up and you lose all the support. It’s not a linear grip, it’s not nice. You’re constantly guessing the grip. And then once you go back on throttle, the engine has to catch up and it creates wheelspin on the exit,” Verstappen said. “It’s really, really poor. Just in this corner, I don’t know how much we’re losing, but it really feels bad.”
Technical director Pierre Wache confirmed the engine management issue and indicated it must be resolved before the weekend’s competitive sessions. “We clearly have an issue there on how we manage the engine and how the car is operating,” Wache said. “That is something that we have to fix or try to get away from it.”
According to Autosport, Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad revealed that the sister team had been experiencing comparable problems for a longer period, making Friday the first occasion the issue has visibly affected the senior Red Bull squad.
Beyond the engine irregularity, overall car balance also fell short of what both drivers required. Wache attributed this directly to the scale of the upgrade introduced in Austria, explaining that large-scale changes alter a car’s handling characteristics to the point where set-up references gathered at previous rounds no longer apply cleanly. “It’s every time the same problem. When you change a lot on the car, the characteristics are changing a little bit, and the balance is changing,” he said. “Then you have to see how the sensitivity of each set-up element is playing a role in the request from the drivers and what is needed for them. That is clearly something that we have to learn from FP2 and try to improve for FP3 and qualifying.”
Hadjar echoed that assessment, noting the team remains unable to judge the true value of the package until balance is restored. “So far, it just seems like it’s hard to extract the most of it because we’re completely off balance and we’re struggling a lot. So there’s a lot of digging to do tonight,” the French driver said.
Despite the difficult Friday, Wache maintained that the upgrade represents genuine progress in terms of both downforce and weight. “What we see is clearly a better package than what we had previously in terms of weight and in terms of downforce. But to see exactly the downforce levels that we can achieve, we will see more during the night and tomorrow morning,” he said.
Team principal Laurent Mekies has stated that the target for the upgrade package is to reduce Red Bull’s deficit to the leading teams from a range of four to five tenths down to approximately two to three tenths. Hadjar also noted an improvement in driveability between FP1 and FP2, suggesting the package carries inherent potential once balance is dialled in. “It felt way better in FP2, so that’s good news, but it’s not where we want to be. At least it’s a lot easier to drive, so the performance should come tomorrow a bit easier than usual,” he said.
Red Bull’s situation in Austria carries broader significance given the scrutiny surrounding the team’s 2026 competitiveness, particularly following recent speculation linked to the departure of key personnel. With FP3 and qualifying to come, Saturday will provide the first clear indication of whether the Austrian upgrade can close the gap to the championship frontrunners.
