Verstappen concedes what Red Bull must improve to fight for 2026 title that cost them this year

08:01, 04 Jul

Updated: 11:25, 04 Jul

byLuke-John Buckle

Max Verstappen has been the driver to beat in the ground-effect era and has won the last four championships consecutively.

The Dutchman has maximised the potential of the Red Bull car he has been given and won two races so far this year.

These victories in Japan and at Imola have been hard-fought, as Red Bull has lagged behind McLaren in 2025.

Verstappen has been a very tough teammate to beat, and Yuki Tsunoda is now struggling as Sergio Perez did before him at the Austrian team.

Red Bull hit the peak of their form in 2023 as the team won 21 of the 22 races, but have since fallen behind McLaren.

The reigning world champion told GPBlog and others ahead of the British Grand Prix that Red Bull needs to understand how to keep up the momentum throughout the next set of rules.

He said: "When you look at the previous regulations, I think no one would have expected McLaren to suddenly do that. Sometimes, it takes a bit of time to get everything together. I think now it was the opposite for us."

Red Bull need to work out why they lost momentum in the ground effect era

"We had everything really well from the start of the new regulations and then towards the end it was a bit of a struggle for us. That is something that we have to figure out why. Why we didn't hit the same kind of progression as maybe some other teams. But then again, 2026 is completely different.

"It's something completely different that you need from a car. Because the previous generation of cars, we had the opposite, where we were off in the beginning and then towards the end we actually made it work. So sometimes it's also a bit difficult to explain everything, you know, why or how things are so good or so average."

Red Bull and Verstappen may have opportunities to win more races this season, but the championship looks unlikely as McLaren is so fast.