Red Bull improves RB22 balance, but kerb handling still needs work

Red Bull has improved the RB22's balance, but technical director Pierre Waché is not sure the team has solved its kerb-riding problem.

During the ground-effect era, Red Bull was less often able to produce strong results at circuits with high kerbs and slow corners, such as Singapore, than on more traditional tracks. Verstappen took his first win at Marina Bay in 2026, driving the RB22.

Speaking ahead of the United States Grand Prix, Waché said earlier attempts to improve high-speed balance could leave the car struggling in slow corners, or vice versa. He credited updates in Miami, Austria and Baku with clear gains in car behaviour and overall performance; the main advance, he said, was a car its driver could exploit more fully.

Waché says the RB22 now works as a more coherent whole and that Verstappen likes it. He does not expect the Dutchman to call it perfect, though, and says Red Bull is still trying to improve its kerb riding. Under the current regulations, he added, there is room for further gains.