Verstappen wins in Sepang as Red Bull’s RB22 shows marked improvement

Max Verstappen won in Sepang at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia on 7 October 2026, taking pole and converting it into victory for Red Bull in the RB22.

The result followed a season in which the RB22 struggled with pace, balance and consistency, leaving Verstappen — a four-time world champion — unable to sustain a title challenge earlier in the year. Red Bull, under Laurent Mekies, introduced major upgrades in Miami and Austria and continued development through subsequent rounds after the car produced only a couple of podiums in the first half of the season. Verstappen captured the difficulty he faced at the start of the campaign when he said: “At the start of the season, I really had weekends where I would turn the steering wheel and strange things would happen.”

Incremental upgrades yielded closer qualifying and race performances in the middle part of the year: in Madrid Verstappen qualified just over a tenth off pole and showed genuine race pace, and only a month before Sepang he could do no better than sixth in qualifying at Monza. Red Bull brought a more extensive package to Baku, including a floor development, and in qualifying there Verstappen was hampered by yellow flags and started eighth.

In the Baku race the car displayed strong in‑race speed, with Verstappen moving through the field and closing on the winner, Mercedes’ George Russell, “right on his gearbox.” Rivals noted the RB22’s straight-line speed, a step change that was apparent to teams including Mercedes.

Isack Hadjar, who had missed three races with a wrist injury, described the perceived improvement when he returned: “I definitely feel like I jumped in a car that’s way better than when I left it in Budapest,” he said. Hadjar and Verstappen both framed the late-season runs as learning opportunities to inform the team’s work.

Sepang offered validation of the upgrades: the RB22 was quicker in a straight line than the Mercedes and performed well in medium and high-speed corners, and on a tyre‑punishing surface the car proved better balanced and less damaging to the rubber, allowing improved energy deployment. Verstappen summed up the change by saying the team had “pushed weaknesses out of the car,” a process that the report says has taken 16 meetings to reach this point.

The victory also coincided with Red Bull delivering a win while running its own engine for the first time, an outcome the article describes as recognised across the paddock and not guaranteed given other manufacturers’ experiences; the piece contrasts that undertaking with Honda’s season-long challenges.

Mercedes’ upgrades did not deliver at Sepang, and George Russell will start the Singapore Grand Prix from the back of the grid after an engine change following a late retirement in Malaysia. How the RB22 performs on the streets of Singapore this weekend is singled out in the piece as a key test.

The team’s stated aim for the remaining rounds is to extract maximum learning for next year’s car, a goal Hadjar articulated: “We have to try all the things, make all the mistakes now and do all the learning to arrive in 2027 ready to roll and start on high,” he said. The Singapore Grand Prix this weekend is presented as the immediate next opportunity to assess the upgrades’ transferability to a different circuit type.