From "paper car" to pole – What changed for Verstappen and Red Bull?

It is less than a month since Max Verstappen qualified sixth at Monza and afterwards spoke about a Red Bull car "made of paper". Admittedly, that comment specifically concerned the "car degradation" issue – components that sometimes deteriorate over the course of a race – and according to Verstappen and team principal Laurent Mekies, that issue can no longer be fully resolved in 2026. But in terms of pure pace, significant steps have been made since those frustrations at Monza. Verstappen has finished on the podium at every race weekend since his crash at Zandvoort, and in Malaysia he has now secured his first pole of the year.

The latter marks another step forward because, yes, Verstappen made it onto the podium at Monza, Madrid and Baku, but Red Bull was never the benchmark at any point during those race weekends. And that is precisely what the Milton Keynes-based team has been so far at Sepang. Verstappen already completed impressive long runs on Friday and followed that up with a convincing pole position a day later.

"I think the car has been in a good operating window all weekend," Verstappen told a handful of Dutch journalists in the paddock after qualifying. "Is that perhaps because it's the heat here? It could be, but I do think we've made good steps with the set-up over the past few weeks as well, and of course with those upgrades on the car."

Verstappen thinks Mercedes is simply having an off-weekend in the Malaysian heat. There are two sides to the explanation for Saturday's picture. Verstappen believes other teams – Mercedes in particular – are struggling slightly more with the heat than Red Bull, and secondly, the technical team led by Pierre Wache has undeniably improved the RB22.

距离马克斯·弗斯特罗普在蒙扎排第六并谈论红牛赛车 "像纸一样"已经不足一个月。诚然，该评论具体关注 "轮胎磨损" 问题——即赛车部件在比赛过程中有时会恶化—— 根据弗斯特罗普和车队总监洛伦特·

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