Red Bull’s Max Verstappen salvaged a points finish from an 11th-place start at the 2026 F1 Japanese GP, finishing the race in 8th. The Dutchman struggled for pace throughout the race and was unable to get past Alpine’s Pierre Gasly before the chequered flag, with the pair swapping positions several times over the 53 laps.
Over the course of the 2026 F1 Japanese GP, Verstappen was vocal about the issues with the RB22 and its handling. Speaking in the print media zone after the race, the four-time World Champion reflected on his race stuck behind the Alpine, saying: “Yeah I mean, I also had a good look in China, I think I was behind it. So, yeah, I think we’re a tiny bit more faster.”
“But you just can’t pass, well, you can pass, but then you have no battery next to it. So, I tried one time just to have a look. So I passed into the front-straight and then, yeah, you have no battery the next, so.”
Deployment not the main issue for Red Bull right now
While issues at Red Bull continue to persist, Verstappen believes energy deployment is not the primary area they need to address right now, stressing that there’s still a lot of fundamental work to be done on the RB22’s package.
“I think our deployment is good. That’s also not our biggest problem, to be honest. I guess, correlation and a few things, calibration, we can be better. But actually, in terms of power, it’s not our worst thing, for sure. We’re not like Mercedes. They’re super strong, really. But we have a lot more work to do. Definitely a lot more work to do on the car.”
“It’s completely inefficient to do that” says Verstappen on energy deployment around Suzuka
The 28 year-old has been vocal about his dissatisfaction with the current regulations. Ahead of the weekend, changes were made to the Qualifying rules, reducing the maximum permitted energy recharge per lap from 9.0MJ to 8.0MJ.
When asked about energy deployment and its effect on overtaking around Suzuka, he explained: “Well, yes, you have a little bit more usage, of course, when you’re within one second. And especially on a track like this, where it’s quite poor, the energy management, you can use it a lot. In general, just be very careful how you use your battery. It’s a bit tricky.”
“The problem is, of course, if you have a long straight, and then only a little chicane, and then a long straight again. If you deploy in one straight, you have nothing on the other. Some other tracks, if you have a long straight, then you have maybe a few corners, and you have time to charge. Here, you don’t.”
“That’s basically in a lot of places where you want to go for an overtake, and then there’s only one corner to charge, and then a long straight again. So that makes it basically impossible to use the battery, because it’s completely inefficient to do that.”
Verstappen weighs in on Bearman’s high-speed crash
During the race, Haas’ Ollie Bearman found himself in a high-speed crash that saw him go straight into the barriers, suffering a 50G impact. While concerns around energy deployment and closing speeds had already been raised by several drivers, the incident has now brought those issues as a serious safety concern.
Sharing his thoughts on the crash, Verstappen said: “Yeah, that’s what you get with these things. One guy is completely stuck with no power, basically, and then the other one uses the mushroom mode, and it can be 50, 60 kilometres more.”
“It’s really, really big. It can be very dangerous. It looks like whatever, moving on the brakes, or moving in general, but it also happens when you have that quick acceleration. And it’s like, yeah, you can have a big crash.”
Understanding new upgrades key ahead of next race in Miami
At the 2026 F1 Japanese GP, Red Bull introduced their first major upgrade: a new bodywork configuration for the RB22. While the weekend presented its challenges, Verstappen acknowledged that, with a month-long break before the next race in Miami, there’s still a lot of work to do to fully understand the new package.
“Understand the new package. Because I’m not so sure that worked really well here, I had a lot of stability problems for me.”, the four-time World Champion said.
“And then, of course, from there, work and just get a bit more of a stable balance. Understand also the engine, the deployment a little bit better. Just be a bit more solid all around.”
