Red Bull going 'through pain' to cure 'serious' Max Verstappen problem

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has confirmed that Max Verstappen is losing "serious lap time" to what he has described as "a complex issue" with this year's RB22.

Following the introduction of new regulations for this season, Verstappen has complained on numerous occasions about 'car degradation'.

After Verstappen finished second in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix behind race-winner Kimi Antonelli, Mekies acknowledged that the four-time F1 champion's complaints about inconsistent car performance during sessions and races are legitimate, and the issue is not a recent development.

Mekies made clear that Red Bull is treating the problem as a priority, even if he was unwilling to go into specifics.

"We are not going to explain what it is and how we are going to fix it," said Mekies, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365.

 "But Max is right. There is an element of car performance degradation that is happening through a session, through a race.

"He is right in saying it is not a new issue. We are not sleeping on it. We have been trying to tackle that in different ways.

"Obviously, I consider it a complex issue, otherwise, we would have got to the bottom of it."

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Mekies - no quick fix

Despite the resources being applied to the problem, Mekies insisted a fix will not be quick, and that Verstappen will likely have to wait until next season for a potential cure.

"Everyone is very constructive about it, trying to make small steps at a time to be able to get to the bottom of it, finally," remarked Mekies.

"We had a couple of positive steps in that regard [in Madrid]. It will never be the full picture, but we certainly have, through pain, made progress in our understanding.

"We don't have all the solutions yet in the car, but I trust that we are on the right way. It will not be fast. It's something that probably will take us through next year.

"I'm not really going to give any more details. As I say, it's some aspect of the car's performance that sometimes doesn't stay at the optimal level.

"It's serious lap time. There is no doubt that we have everyone trying to improve that for the future."