Work on next year’s Red Bull is already underway according to world champion Max Verstappen.

The Dutchman wrapped up this year’s title at last weekend’s Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix after winning from team-mate Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc third.

It means he now holds a 112-point advantage over the pair, who are tied on points, with a maximum of 111 on offer across the remaining four rounds.

The 2022 campaign has been a dominant one for Red Bull, with 14 wins between its drivers, 12 for Verstappen.

Ferrari had looked to have the upper hand as the season got underway with Leclerc winning in Bahrain and Australia before the Scuderia’s charge faltered.

Operational and strategic blunders played a part in that however the F1-75 has proven to be harder on its tyres than its Red Bull counterpart.

In recent races, the RB18 has also enjoyed a straight-line speed advantage, allowing it to carry more wing effectively without penalty.

Nonetheless, Verstappen suggests there are weaknesses in his car’s armoury that the team is working on for next year.

“I think last year was very tricky, because you knew that the rules were completely new, so you didn’t want to start on the backfoot,” Verstappen explained.

Locked in a tense battle with Mercedes through the 2021 campaign, switching focus to the development of the 2022 car was a delicate balancing act.

There was little to no carryover, aside from the power unit, making investment deep into last year’s championship difficult to justify but necessary to maintain the challenge.

“That’s why it was a bit of a dilemma what to do last year. This year, it’s all a bit more straightforward because next year, they don’t really change a lot.

“We know what we have to work on in general, the cars will be faster. Yeah, they are already well underway with that.”

Development of next year’s car has been underway for some time for most teams, Valtteri Bottas revealing in June that he’d already seen the wind tunnel model of the 2023-spec Alfa Romeo Sauber.

McLaren too has begun to introduce developments with an eye beyond the current season, introducing a suite in Singapore for Lando Norris before Daniel Ricciardo received them in Japan.

Red Bull holds a comfortable position atop the constructors’ championship standings, with 619 points against the 454 of Ferrari.

Much like it was for Verstappen with the drivers’ title, it therefore seems a matter of when it wraps up the title rather than if.

That could mathematically happen in the United States next weekend, Red Bull needing to outscore Ferrari by 34 points to move the teams’ competition beyond reach.