Verstappen admits Red Bull struggles after 'a few issues' in Melbourne practice

In FP1, both Red Bull drivers Verstappen and Isack Hadjar looked competitive, with the former finishing P3 behind the Ferraris, and his teammate in P4 just under three tenths behind the Dutchman.

In FP2, however, Verstappen struggled to exit the pit lane and had to be brought back to the garage, and could only finish P6 after a rough slide on the gravel reportedly impacted his RB22 - the damage is not enough to worry Red Bull, but engineering chief Paul Monaghan admitted it was "enough to keep us busy" after practice.

Reflecting on the first two practice sessions of 2026, Verstappen said: "In FP1 we did get in a good number of laps and in FP2 we found that we ran into a few issues.

"We are working on getting the set up right with the car and were struggling a bit with grip and also went into the gravel. We didn't have a full day of clean running but, pace wise, we are where I expected us to be.

"There is still a lot of work to do and we will analyse what worked and what we can improve on overnight and that is the reality at the moment."

Meanwhile, new Red Bull driver Hadjar revealed that the Milton Keynes outfit "struggled with the deployment" of the RB22, a strength identified by their rivals throughout pre-season testing.

"For our first session of the season everything went well. The reliability of the power unit was good and it was solid throughout the day.

Red Bull engineering chief Monaghan explained the issues caused by Verstappen's off, but also reflected positively on Red Bull Ford engine's first practice sessions of 2026.