Can't make Verstappen happier about 2026 F1 cars, but can build him a winning one

Just under a year ago the first rumours emerged that Max Verstappen was actively trying to extract himself from Red Bull, and perhaps Formula 1 entirely.

The team’s general pattern of underperformance in the first half of the 2024 season left the way open for Verstappen to trigger a performance clause in his contract – and, more worryingly for Red Bull, he appeared to be losing interest in F1 itself, openly engaging in sim and sportscar races.

A change of leadership and a competitive turnaround set his head pointing in the right direction once more, but the Austrian outfit will not want that to happen again.

In that context, Verstappen’s open contempt for the new 2026 rules and the cars they have produced is concerning. Having one of F1’s most bankable stars, a four-time world champion, comparing the product of the new ruleset unfavourably to Formula E, and openly throwing doubt on his future in F1, is embarrassing for the stakeholders and worrying for his employers.

As with last season, the only lever Red Bull can pull is to give Max as fast a car as possible and hope the race wins will flow in sufficient quantity for him to park his reservations. “It’s not my goal to make him happy,” said technical director Pierre Wache when asked what the team can do to make him happier about the present state of affairs.

“We can make him happy by winning the race. My job and the job of the team, at my level, is to make sure that we give him the tool that he’s able to compete at the front. The regulation itself and how the car design is, in terms of how we feel with the car, due to this regulation, is an outside area.

“It’s an FIA discussion and we can participate in that, but the main purpose and the main focus is to make the car better.”

Pierre Wache, Technical Director Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

So the bottom line according to Wache is that converting Verstappen to the cause of energy management, and of exercising patience with cars said to be up to 50km/h slower through fast corners than previous-generation machinery, is an FIA job. Perhaps with some assistance from the commercial rights holder, which is understood to be highly agitated by the negative sentiment leaking out of the paddock.

What lies within Red Bull’s domain of controllables is the ability to build race-winning cars. But where the RB22 lies in the pecking order is as yet unknown, for it is obvious that all the teams – with the probable exception of Aston Martin – have been masking their pace.

So at the moment what we are left with is the punch and counter-punch of certain teams directing attention elsewhere. Mercedes, which has compelling reasons to conceal its potential given the unfolding brouhaha over its power unit, insists Red Bull’s new in-house engine is a step ahead in terms of sustained energy deployment from one lap to another.

Mercedes’ customers, including reigning champions McLaren, have echoed that sentiment but believes the Brixworth power unit can be developed to offer similar performance. Red Bull has played down suggestions it has the most effective engine, and Verstappen has openly scorned Mercedes’ claims that its compression-ratio trick is only worth one or two brake horsepower.

“It’s difficult to say,” said Wache when asked where he feels the Red Bull package stands. “We are not the benchmark for sure. We see clearly the top three teams, Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren are in front of us.

“It looks like, from what our analysis is, we are behind. But where we think we are, it’s difficult to say about the others because the run plan of everybody, the level of fuel they run, the level of power they run, it’s difficult to say. But it’s currently our analysis [that Red Bull is the fourth-fastest package] but it could be wrong, to be honest. We don’t spend too much time on that, we try to focus on how to improve.”

Photos from Bahrain Pre-Season Testing – Day 3

Bahrain Pre-Season Testing Day 3, in photos

Can’t make Verstappen happier about 2026 F1 cars, but can build him a winning one

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