Technical director Waché's position under pressure, departure ultimately seems inevitable

Before the season, there were fears that the new Red Bull Ford engine would be the weak point of the RB22. In reality, there is still plenty of performance to be gained with this power unit, but it is not the biggest concern of Red Bull Racing.

That would be the chassis of the Austrians' cars. So far, there is little reason to believe that a necessary short-term improvement is coming, one that would at least allow them to challenge McLaren and perhaps Ferrari. No one is talking about taking the fight to the dominant Mercedes.

As technical director, Waché is ultimately responsible for Red Bull’s chassis. His future with the Austrians grows murkier by the day after once again producing a car that simply isn’t good enough.

A year ago, Verstappen managed to mask the RB21’s shortcomings for a long time, and Waché succeeded, after many updates and adjustments, in improving the car toward the end of the season. Even so, the early phase of the season ultimately cost Verstappen a fifth world title.

With the new technical regulations, 2026 was the true trial by fire for Waché, who for the first time could not build on a car that was originally co-created by Adrian Newey at its core. This year, the Frenchman was on his own, and the result of his work is inadequate.

It’s a fact that not every team can build the fastest F1 car. It’s also true that Red Bull can’t be the best every season. In that sense, Waché wouldn’t need to worry immediately—if he could at least manage to deliver some improvement to the car in the coming months, however uncertain that now seems.

Even so, Waché must slowly begin to fear for his job, mainly because there is internal disagreement within Red Bull about the working methods and the direction taken, as GPblog revealed on Sunday. Once your staff no longer agrees with you and even resigns out of dissatisfaction with your approach, there will ultimately come a point when Red Bull has no choice but to make a tough decision.

In retrospect, the sudden departure of Craig Skinner is interesting; the chief designer of the Austrian outfit who packed his bags just before the start of the season. Could that have had to do with not seeing eye-to-eye with the technical boss? It’s speculation, but an intriguing thought.

Red Bull cannot afford to see more and more capable people leave the team. If that means a hard decision has to be made about Waché, the current Red Bull leadership will surely not hesitate to make it.

That has happened before with Christian Horner. If the former team principal had to step down, then Waché certainly cannot feel secure in his position.