Former Red Bull mechanic Calum Nicholas has admitted it was \u201cbrutal\u201d to watch Max Verstappen\u2019s poor start at the Chinese Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
And he says F1 2026 \u201cwas never going to be an easy year\u201d for Red Bull, backing the team to \u201cdig deep\u201d in the face of a challenging start to the new season.<\/p>\n
Max Verstappen starts \u2018brutal to watch\u2019 at Chinese Grand Prix<\/p>\n
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google<\/a> to your favourites list for news you can trust<\/p>\n Red Bull is producing its own engines for the first time this season after parting ways with Honda at the end of last year, with the Milton Keynes outfit suffering a troubled start to 2026.<\/p>\n Verstappen failed to record a time in qualifying at the opening race in Australia, recovering to sixth \u2013 albeit a minute behind the race-winner Mercedes of George Russell \u2013 the following day.<\/p>\n The four-time world champion went on to suffer his first retirement since last June in China last weekend, with an ERS cooling problem bringing his race to an early end.<\/p>\n That came after Verstappen qualified a second adrift of pole position in Shanghai.<\/p>\n Analysis: Chinese Grand Prix<\/p>\n Chinese GP conclusions: Verstappen sabbatical fear, mixed Hamilton feelings, McLaren Powertrains<\/a><\/p>\n Winners and losers from the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix<\/a><\/p>\n Meanwhile, Verstappen\u2019s teammate Isack Hadjar finished eighth in China, recovering from an early spin after retiring with an engine failure in Australia.<\/p>\n Verstappen dropped a number of places off the line in Shanghai in both the sprint and main races, with Liam Lawson\u2019s Racing Bulls car \u2013 also using the Red Bull Powertrains engine \u2013 suffering a poor start in Australia seven days earlier.<\/p>\n Nicholas, who now works as a Red Bull Racing ambassador after leaving his garage role ahead of the 2025 season, says Verstappen\u2019s start was \u201cbrutal\u201d to witness in China.<\/p>\n Yet he is convinced that the team will get on top of its teething troubles in 2026.<\/p>\n In a post to social media after the Chinese Grand Prix, he wrote: \u201cA tough weekend for the Bulls.<\/p>\n \u201cIsack did well to recover, and I\u2019m glad he got all those race laps under his belt after the failure in Oz!<\/p>\n \u201cThe poor starts have been brutal to watch.<\/p>\n \u201cI love to give my controls engineering buddies a bit of stick, but it really is an art form and I can\u2019t imagine how much more difficult these PUs make it.<\/p>\n \u201cBrutal to watch Max go backwards.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was never going to be an easy year. If you thought that a team would build an incredible factory and design & manufacture a completely faultless PU in four years, and go on to instant success, then you really don\u2019t understand the technical challenge that is F1.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I\u2019ve said previously, if there\u2019s any outfit in the paddock that can make this work, it\u2019s ORBR [Oracle Red Bull Racing].<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a process. We\u2019ve had tough years before, when we do, we dig deep!\u201d<\/p>\n Verstappen claimed after the race in Shanghai that \u201cthe same\u201d issue was behind his poor starts in the sprint and grand prix, revealing that the engine \u201cis not there\u201d when he releases the clutch at launch.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cThe start, of course, was a big problem \u2013 the same as yesterday.<\/p>\n \u201cThe rest of the race was, again, the same as yesterday: just a lot of graining, can\u2019t push, terrible pace, terrible balance like yesterday. A very bad weekend for us.<\/p>\n \u201cI had no battery [at the start] in Melbourne and, here, the two problems are the same.<\/p>\n \u201cI just have no power. I release the clutch and the engine is not there.\u201d<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n