According to Motorsport.com Italia, the Milton Keynes squad has orchestrated a stunning technical turnaround with their latest upgrade package introduced at Baku, sparking a dominant run that has netted Max Verstappen two consecutive grand prix victories and a sprint win. Pierre Waché's engineering staff managed to reverse a turbulent start that had looked doomed by the departure of several prominent engineers.
While Kimi Antonelli still dominates the championship standings with eight wins from seventeen races in his Mercedes W17, the development tide has visibly shifted. The Brackley outfit, directed by James Allison and Simone Resta, chose to bunch their major updates into sparse moments, anticipating concepts meant for 2027 in a bid to stave off a summer surge from McLaren. Meanwhile, McLaren's latest upgrade changing the aerodynamic philosophy of the MCL40 has backfired, leaving Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri wrestling with a papaya machine that is punishingly difficult to drive at the limit.
We can win everywhere, but the others will continue to develop.
Red Bull, on the other hand, has found pure gold. Since the Italian Grand Prix, Verstappen has hauled in a staggering 109 points, outscoring Antonelli's 98, Charles Leclerc's 60 with Ferrari, George Russell's 55, and Lewis Hamilton's 46, while the struggling McLaren duo managed just 42 for Norris and 32 for Piastri. The four-time world champion put together a sublime run of podiums, finishing third in Monza and taking consecutive seconds in Madrid and Baku before striking gold with victories in Sepang and Singapore. A drastic weight reduction—shaving off more than 15 kg that initially cost the RB22 half a second per lap—combined with aerodynamic upgrades to unlock a sweet balance.
The scale of the turnaround is not lost on the paddock, with George Russell outright calling Red Bull the new technical reference. Mercedes tried to fire back with an update that has three tenths of raw performance baked into it, though Antonelli's brief experiment with a brand-new front wing during FP1 in Singapore was quickly shelved for Austin. Ferrari is also bringing its final SF-26 evolution to the United States, but Red Bull's newfound equilibrium is paying dividends not just for Verstappen, but for Isack Hadjar as well.
Red Bull Racing team principal Laurent Mekies made no secret of their current trajectory, admitting, "We can win everywhere, but the others will continue to develop." He noted that their pace across vastly different circuits like Sepang and Singapore proves the car's competitive breadth. Behind the scenes, building an entirely new power unit from scratch alongside Ford under the 2026 regulations has been nothing short of a miracle. The DM01 engine, aided by the recruitment of Ben Hodgkinson and his team from Brixworth, has earned FIA validation as the benchmark against which opponents receive Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities.
From birth pangs to championship contention, the once-overweight RB22 is now the car to beat. Verstappen is hunting down second place in the drivers' standings—sitting just 17 points behind George Russell—while the team eyes a jump past McLaren for third in the constructors' championship, trailing by a mere seven points. With a brand-new wind tunnel nearing completion to replace the outdated Bedford facility from the 1940s, the Milton Keynes beast has only just bared its teeth.
