Max Verstappen secured his first victory of the Formula 1 season at the Sepang International Circuit, claiming pole position and converting it into a dominant win that marks the inaugural triumph for the Red Bull Ford Powertrains engine project, according to reports from GP33.
Red Bull RB22 Performance Leap Unlocked at Sepang
Red Bull Racing sources confirmed that the team’s upgraded RB22 chassis gained approximately three and a half tenths of a second per lap following refinements to the package introduced earlier in Azerbaijan. The update featured a revised floor geometry and diffuser adjustments designed by the Milton Keynes factory to increase local downforce while preserving airflow stability behind the front tyres. Team engineers noted that the car excelled across both high-speed straights and the sweeping, fast corners that had previously exposed handling weaknesses earlier in the season.
During the opening practice session in Malaysia, Max Verstappen set the fastest time, and he subsequently finished fourth in the second practice session while running exclusively on medium compound tyres. Pierre Waché reported after Friday’s training sessions that the performance had substantially exceeded expectations, with the car exhibiting exemplary behavior across every corner type and on the straightaways. The Milton Keynes outfit had previously struggled with a nervous handling balance, setup difficulties, and an excess weight of ten to thirteen kilograms above the minimum regulatory limit during the early part of the campaign, before introducing new sidepods in Suzuka and a subsequent turning point in Miami. Although prior experiments with an extreme rear wing were shelved following incidents at the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone, the latest developments successfully resolved those aerodynamic hurdles.
Red Bull Revises Floor Profile and Steering Gear Ratio
FIA technical filings ahead of the Malaysian weekend confirmed a minor aerodynamic revision to the floor board profile, described in official documents as a new fence designed to generate local load while maintaining wake stability behind the front wheels. Meanwhile, technical discussions highlighted in the High Performance Racing podcast revealed that Red Bull had experimented with steering gear ratio adjustments on the car to refine driver input response, a modification that teammate Isack Hadjar utilized effectively during practice sessions.
Otmar Szafnauer, the former Alpine team principal, revealed in the podcast that Isack Hadjar used a new steering gear ratio—the mechanism converting steering wheel rotation into wheel movement—which transformed the driver’s feel of the steering input. Rob Smedley noted that engineers can evaluate steering speed and driver hand movements relative to wheel rotation using onboard video analysis software, observing that Red Bull operates with a relatively fast steering rack. Szafnauer explained that after Isack Hadjar ran ahead of Max Verstappen in qualifying in Baku—where Hadjar qualified fourth and Verstappen eighth following a technical issue—Verstappen adopted the steering upgrade as well. Following an engine change ahead of the race, Verstappen charged through to finish in a photo finish just behind George Russell.
Contrasting Upgrades Across Rival Constructor Teams
While Red Bull extracted immediate performance from its refined platform, rival constructors introduced substantial packages with varying success. Mercedes arrived at Sepang with a wide-ranging update encompassing a new floor, sidepods, and rear suspension—their first major development since May—as the Silver Arrows sought to protect their lead in the constructors’ standings. Ferrari implemented a targeted performance upgrade utilizing a new diffuser, while McLaren introduced additional cooling louvres on the engine cover to manage thermal loads for reliability purposes.
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