Red Bull Racing acknowledged it is trailing the frontrunners after the Japanese Grand Prix, with Laurent Mekies, Red Bull team boss, saying the team is "a distant force" following driver Max Verstappen's eighth and driver Isack Hadjar's 12th place finishes.
The team has struggled under 2026's new regulations, which brought smaller cars and a near-50:50 combustion-electric hybrid split. Mercedes has won races in Australia, China and Japan.
Red Bull's new in-house power units developed with Ford appear competitive, but the team says the RB22's balance and the ability to extract performance remain unresolved.
Laurent Mekies said engineers are working to understand complex limitations that have prevented the usual practice-to-qualifying gains, leaving Verstappen and Hadjar unable to challenge the front-runners so far.
Read the full article at motorsport.com.
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