- Verstappen drove revised RB22 at Silverstone as Red Bull trialled aero upgrades.
- Spy shots revealed new front wing elements, reshaped sidepods & revised rear wing.
- Mekies has called Miami a ‘second season launch’ but warned of no miracle fixes.
Max Verstappen drove a visibly updated RB22 at Silverstone on Wednesday. Red Bull Racing used a filming day to trial a series of aerodynamic changes ahead of the Miami Grand Prix.
The session was Red Bull’s second filming day of 2026. Verstappen was the only driver to take the wheel.
Under Formula 1 regulations, filming days restrict teams to 200 kilometres and require the use of Pirelli demonstration tyres.
Despite those limitations, Red Bull treated the outing as a working test, fitting the car with several modifications that had not appeared in the opening three races of the season.
What the spy shots reveal about the updated RB22
Leaked photographs circulated on social media after the session and showed a car that had changed in several areas.
The front wing endplates now carry winglet elements that most rivals have run since the season began. Red Bull’s original specification did not include them.
These elements are typically used to manage downward airflow turbulence.
The sidepods also appear to have been redesigned. Where the original bodywork featured a single, gradually curving line, the new version has a sharper kink midway through.
GPblog reported that the new sidepod shape is among the most striking changes on the car. At the rear, Red Bull has tested a new wing configuration with what appears to be a repositioned pivot point for its moving components.
It is also very likely that the team may have used the Silverstone run to evaluate new battery management procedures and the superclipping rules that came into effect during the April break.
Mekies promises a ‘second season launch’
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has not tried to downplay the team’s situation.
Speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast, he explained how the decision was made to rebuild rather than carry over the approach from 2025.
He has framed the arrival of the upgrades in Miami as a reset for the team’s season. “I think it will be a bit like a second season launch when we are back at the track in Miami because, of course, every team is engaged in this massive development race,” Mekies said, speaking via F1i.
“You will see every car on the grid changing significantly with upgrades in Miami, so we will only be as good as we are relative to the others, and it’s going to be a new starting point.”
Mekies was careful not to raise expectations beyond what the data can support. “Does it mean you come to Miami and you have solved everything as a miracle? No,” he said.
“What we would like to see is to have a car where our drivers can push again.”
He insisted the factory atmosphere remains combative. “We are not at all in that mode. We are in full attack mode,” Mekies said. “If you walk in Milton Keynes right now, there is fire in every single department.”
Red Bull is not the only team at work
Red Bull’s session at Silverstone on Wednesday afternoon followed Haas’s use of the same circuit in the morning. Williams and Carlos Sainz had also been at Silverstone the day before.
Ferrari ran at Monza, with Charles Leclerc driving in the morning and Lewis Hamilton taking over after lunch.
The Italian team assessed an extensive set of updates on the SF-26, including a revised front wing, an updated floor and a reworked version of the rotating rear wing that appeared briefly at the Chinese Grand Prix before being withdrawn.
Miami will be the first proper measure of what each team has achieved during the break. For Red Bull, the stakes are higher than they might appear at the fourth race of a season.
Verstappen’s contract contains a release clause that could be activated from August if he is not within the top two in the championship.
The Silverstone filming day gave Red Bull its first chance to gather data on the new package. Miami will give the team its first competitive answer.
