First look at RB22 upgrades as Red Bull 'put car on a diet' ahead of Austrian Grand Prix

It had become clear for some time that Red Bull would bring the second major update package of the season to Austria. The RB22 needed to shred weight because it was too heavy and in Miami, they introduced the first part of the updates to make the car lighter.

However, their car was still well above the minimum weight. This is something they have hoped to address ahead of the team's home race at the Red Bull Ring.

Max Verstappen is a five-time winner at the Red Bull Ring but his team have been well off the pace during the 2026 season. After the promise of Monaco where he put his car on the front row, despite his DNF on the opening lap, he was considerably languishing behind in Barcelona, finishing fourth.

Speaking after Barcelona, Laurent Mekies confirmed Red Bull would bring an upgrade package to make the car lighter in Austria. He said: “I think this weekend (Barcelona) confirmed progress because what we are talking about is three or four tenths from pole position, or three or four tenths from what you need to do to fight for the win. And that was certainly a very different picture at the beginning of the year on this sort of track. There is still a gap, no doubt, PU side, chassis side. That's what we need to fight for next.”

He added with a smile: "In Austria, hopefully we'll get lighter there. The plan is to get the car to eat a little bit less there, and to get on a bit of a diet."

Former Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko believes they are in contention for a victory this weekend, telling Austrian outlet Kleine Zeitung: "The new regulations clearly put Mercedes in the favourite's role. However, they've already had their second engine failure, which is unusual for them. Generally speaking, though, updates are certainly more effective at this stage of the regulations; you can gain five-tenths of a second in one go.