Why there's much more to come from Red Bull in F1 2022

Only one race weekend was required for the narrative surrounding Max Verstappen’s title defence to turn on its head.

When the time came to depart Australia, he had retired from two of his last three races. But now, as the world champion rocks up in Miami this weekend, he has been victorious in two of his last three races. From previously lying sixth in the standings, he occupies second. A 46-point deficit to early leader Charles Leclerc has been cut to a much more palatable 27-point split.

Verstappen did that heavy lifting in Imola. He crossed the line 16.5s to the good over stablemate Sergio Perez to complete a weekend when he topped qualifying, won the sprint race, the full grand prix and snared fastest lap to boot. Some 34 points in the bag, it was the third-highest weekend haul in Formula 1 history, only behind Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa’s hefty scores in the skewed double-points season finale of 2014.

Despite the superiority Verstappen demonstrated to great effect on Ferrari’s home patch, there’s a solid case to argue Red Bull was still some way from executing a perfect weekend. In fact, so far this season it has yet to properly get its ducks in a row.

In Bahrain, at the start of the second ground-effect chapter for F1, Verstappen was outwitted in a DRS detection battle by Leclerc. The Dutch racer was then let down by an ailing RB18 before fuel feed issues forced both his and Perez’s retirements just a handful of laps from home.

Next time out in Saudi Arabia, Verstappen missed pole by 0.261s. He did put the DRS effect and the Red Bull-badged Honda powertrain’s strong top-end speed to good use to win. However, it should be remembered that he was hobbled early in the race by struggles on the medium-compound Pirelli tyres that left him unable to take the fight to his Ferrari foe.

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Verstappen had already been bested by Leclerc in Bahrain before his DNF

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

At Albert Park, Leclerc proved utterly imperious. The F1-75’s ‘supertime’ was 0.367 ahead of the RB18 in a crushing display even before Verstappen was sent for an early bath with another fuel system fault.

PLUS: How decisions Ferrari aced and Red Bull regretted led to Leclerc’s Melbourne masterclass

Many were asking, perhaps rather prematurely, what was going wrong with his championship defence. Could Red Bull conquer its unreliability demons? Would Verstappen bounce back?

He and the team soon went a long way to answering those questions, and emphatically so in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix late last month. Red Bull was just one point away from a maximum possible score thanks largely to the squad’s first 1-2 since Malaysia 2016. Yet this was not a flawless display by any means.

Should Red Bull ultimately piece everything together and potentially steal a tangible march over the rest of the grid, the inevitable downside is that the thrilling Verstappen-Leclerc contest seen so far in 2022 might have to give way

Verstappen’s pole in a wet-dry qualifying session was achieved on the sole Q3 lap when he didn’t lock up, run wide, or take a trip through the gravel. The final two of the five red flags that interrupted the Friday running ensured he didn’t come to rue those mistakes as his rivals for pole had to abandon their flying efforts.

He slipped to second almost immediately in the sprint race, though, with a fluffed start that resulted from clutch and gear sync issues. While Verstappen executed a sound performance to recover past Leclerc for the win, the Ferrari driver’s struggles on the soft tyre were the major factor. Verstappen’s lap times in the sprint flatlined at 1m19.2s. It was the decline in Leclerc’s pace, as he toured in the high 1m19s, that allowed the positions to be swapped more than Verstappen saving up his Pirellis for a late charge.

It's far harder to find fault with the Sunday performance. Verstappen was superb in his lonely run to the spoils. Perez ended up a comfortable second. Poor launches from both Ferraris and Leclerc’s lack of pace to truly threaten for the win prior to his spin did, however, ease the pressure on Red Bull to a degree.

PLUS: Why Leclerc must learn to settle for results in his bid to win an F1 title

Despite the blemishes, Verstappen still earned 10 out of 10 in Autosport’s Emilia Romagna GP Driver Ratings because, by our score guide, full marks are awarded for an “exceptional performance”, “maximising the result” and “dominance over rivals”. He still fulfilled all those criteria despite the occasional slip ups.

Verstappen squandered pole for the sprint with a poor start before repassing Leclerc, which required the Ferrari to lose pace on its tyres

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

After the early unreliability and other myriad struggles, that most recent display from Red Bull may then raise a new question. ‘If that is how devastating the team can be when it gets things 80 or 90% right, how good will Red Bull be when it is truly perfect?’

Miami might offer a glimpse. The mammoth straight along 203rd Street plus a high-speed sweeping second sector looks ideal for allowing the Honda power unit to stretch it legs. There it may well exercise its superiority over the Ferrari engine, which appears the better bet accelerating out of low-speed corners.

Should Red Bull ultimately piece everything together and potentially steal a tangible march over the rest of the grid, the inevitable downside is that the thrilling Verstappen-Leclerc contest seen so far in 2022 might have to give way.

Alternatively, the anticipated arrival of more serious aero updates in time for Spain could again change the narrative. After all, the F1-75 is yet to be lavished with a meaningful upgrade package to unlock any untapped potential.

PLUS: Why the Miami GP is a central chapter of F1 2022's biggest storyline

For the good of the spectacle, keeping hold of a two-horse race is the preferred outcome. But that doesn't entirely prevent a perverse intrigue to find out whether Red Bull really can disappear into the distance if it manages to deliver a perfect weekend.

Miami could be a vital battleground - can Red Bull at last execute a perfect weekend?

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool