Red Bull identifies a 'disconnect' in the RB22 during F1 practice at the Mexico GP.

Red Bull acknowledges that there is still progress to be made following the Formula 1 practice sessions on Friday in Mexico City.

Max Verstappen concluded the day in fifth place, three tenths slower than the fastest time, despite dealing with damage from an incident involving Liam Lawson. Verstappen labeled the situation as 'not very smart' from the Racing Bulls driver, especially since Lawson is still contending for his position.

The stewards imposed a one-position grid penalty on both drivers, which is understandably a frustrating outcome for Red Bull, particularly as the incident disrupted Verstappen's practice session – notably because it was the only session he participated in that day, with Ayumu Iwasa taking over the RB22 during the first practice.

“The bargeboard, or whatever it’s called, broke off. So, naturally, you lose downforce because of that,” Verstappen stated when asked by Motorsport.com about the extent of the damage.

Considering that loss of downforce, the gap to the fastest Ferrari didn’t appear too concerning, although Verstappen still wasn’t completely pleased with his car’s balance.

“It wasn’t bad, but there are still a few areas I want to enhance,” he added. “Of course, I only had one session, and I think grip levels are not great for everyone out there.

“So whatever you feel personally, you then analyze the onboards of others and it seems like no one is really enjoying the driving experience. So yeah, I just need to extract a bit more pace from our car to make a leap forward.”

While Verstappen mentions his driving experience and the onboard footage from other competitors, he also indicates that he isn’t particularly enjoying the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in 2026. The high altitude consistently results in reduced grip and downforce for drivers, and with the new technical regulations featuring active aerodynamics, this effect is even more pronounced.

“It’s even more slippery; you have to be very patient while driving,” Verstappen explained. “Personally, it's not the most enjoyable, but you also recognize that it presents a different challenge. You just have to try to understand it better.”

Similar to Verstappen, technical director Pierre Wache admits that Red Bull has more work ahead and identifies the key issue to tackle.

“At the moment, there’s a slight disconnect in balance between the front and rear – the front during braking and at the apex, and then the rear while turning. It’s clearly a bit off, and we are working to correct that for tomorrow,” Wache said when asked by Motorsport.com about the main challenges.

Verstappen's damage inevitably complicated the team's ability to assess the car's actual balance on Friday.

“I think it’s an overall grip level that we are losing. Based on our analysis, it was balance damage at both the front and rear. It’s evident that it impacts the overall grip level and the confidence you can have in the car. Let’s see tomorrow when the floor is repaired if the car performs better or not.”

In addition to repairing the damage, Red Bull also needs to refine the setup to resolve the disconnect Wache mentioned.

“It’s clearly in the setup, which I think we’ll aim to fix. It’s also about achieving a balance between short runs and long runs consistently. If we address this short-run balance issue, we need to ensure it doesn’t negatively affect the tyres.”

Those tyres are a crucial element in Mexico. This applies not only to long runs but also to the third sector during qualifying laps. Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has already predicted that this is where significant differences will emerge, particularly in the slow corners of the stadium section.

“The tyre is definitely overheating in the last sector,” Wache conceded. “The primary issue is that the track temperature dropped by more than 10 degrees in FP2. The long runs were not very representative of what we will encounter during the race on Sunday.

“We need to be very cautious about that, as tyre degradation will be higher, and perhaps the medium compound will perform better [on Sunday].”