Horner 'went through fire' for Verstappen; Newey's final Red Bull design unveiled

It’s the first weekend of 2026, and we’re counting down the days until the first car launches of the year – with less than two weeks until Red Bull and Racing Bulls show their next liveries.

Red Bull has been among the F1 news headlines, too, so let us catch you up with all the big news from the day.

Verstappen: Horner ‘went through fire for me’

Max Verstappen revealed he still keeps in regular contact with former Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, explaining that they speak at every race weekend on an informal basis.

He thanked his former boss for the work he put in with him, with Horner having been at the helm for all four of Verstappen’s Red Bull titles to date.

Red Bull RB17 design update

Adrian Newey, prior to his move to Aston Martin, had been working on Red Bull’s first hypercar, the RB17 – and Red Bull Advanced Technologies has revealed the final design moving forward.

RBAT’s technical director, Rob Gray, revealed Newey was only a call away if needed in the latter stages, but also explained that Newey’s influence has naturally waned somewhat as his plans were put into action and his Aston Martin switch took effect.

The car is set to produce Formula 1 levels of power, with a 15,000rpm Cosworth V10 engine to match, and only 50 will be made.

Vowles: Sainz influence ‘even better than expected’

Williams team principal James Vowles sang the praises of Carlos Sainz as he came to the end of his first season with the team.

While admitting it took longer than both he and the Spanish driver expected to get to grips with the FW47, Vowles went into detail about the work Sainz does behind the scenes, including his “very rare” ability to go above and beyond in his pinpoint analysis of data.

Why Mercedes went back on F1 2025 upgrade

Mercedes trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin, offered insight into why the team reversed a decision over a suspension update mid-season.

Having spotted the data was trending in the wrong direction in an initial effort to improve the car, he went into detail about how this particular move did not have the desired effect.

The truth behind Piastri’s calm persona

Oscar Piastri opened up about the cool, calm persona he presents at a race weekend, and while that is a big part of his personality, he has chosen to try and stay as level-headed as possible without losing the competitive spirit that powers him during races.

“There’s been conscious effort not being too fired up and getting too emotional, but also having some emotion and some passion in there,” Piastri admitted in the latest episode of Off The Grid.

“Obviously, if you don’t care, then not much good is going to happen either, just finding that sweet spot has been a learning experience.”

Horner ‘went through fire’ for Verstappen; Newey’s final Red Bull design unveiled

Tags: