Laurent Mekies admits Red Bull’s ‘easy’ fix for key RB22 issue would make the car ‘slower’
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies believes his team could quite easily solve their problems with bouncing but utilising an easy solution would make the RB22 “slower”.
Bouncing has been a big issue for drivers Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar so far this year, as the Red Bull RB22 does not ride the kerbs or bumps as well as some of their rivals’ cars. The issue was once again evident last time out in Canada, and is likely to recur in Monaco.
Verstappen was able to overcome the Red Bull RB22’s bouncing problems to bag his maiden podium of the 2026 season in Montreal. But the Dutchman’s run to the rostrum was helped by McLaren’s strategic bungle by starting the Canadian Grand Prix on the intermediate tyres.
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Laurent Mekies admits that Red Bull’s bouncing problems are a ‘complex issue’ to solve
Despite making the rostrum, Verstappen joked he needs “a new back” in Canada due to the aggressive ride from Red Bull’s car. The four-time F1 champion even claimed that racing in a GT3 car feels “2,000 times better”, following his Nurburgring 24 Hours debut in a Mercedes.
Team principal Mekies is well aware that Red Bull need to solve their bouncing problems so that they can offer Verstappen and Hadjar a nicer ride. But the Frenchman will not sanction a rushed solution as the “easy” option would be to simply sacrifice the RB22’s performance.
“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,” Mekies told The Race. “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 lap time. 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.”
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Verstappen and Hadjar will no doubt be desperate for Red Bull’s engineers to discover a final solution for the RB22’s ride that can improve how the car rides all bumps and kerbs without it costing them any performance. Any improvements would certainly be welcomed in Monaco.
Along with suggesting that he needs to order a new back in Canada, Verstappen stated that he has only felt content with the Red Bull RB22’s ride in Miami as there are no bumps there. Monaco’s bumpy streets, however, have often been a big issue for Red Bull in recent years.
Since Verstappen won the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix from pole position driving the dominant RB19, the 28-year-old has only secured sixth place in 2024 and fourth place in 2025 around the Principality. He also finished 16.914s shy of the podium positions in Monaco last season.