Verstappen finds bright spot despite scathing assessment of 2026 F1 cars

Entering the 2026 season, Red Bull Racing took on one of its greatest challenges: building an in-house power unit in collaboration with Ford.

During the engine's first Grand Prix, Isack Hadjar qualified inside the top three, and Max Verstappen and Arvid Lindblad scored its first points on Sunday.

Speaking to GPblog, among others, Verstappen highlighted this achievement. "I mean we have potential in the car for sure, we know that. Engine side I think we are not too bad. At the moment I think where our pace is lacking is half-half. So half car, half engine, which is not bad.

The Dutchman continued: "They've done an incredible job to be where we are, to be fighting with McLaren, with a Mercedes engine. And I think if we improve a little bit, we can fight also a little bit further up front. Then suddenly, of course, the world looks a bit better.The rules still are the same, but the world does look a bit better in terms of how competitive we are. I hope that within a few races we can take a little step forward."

Verstappen said that Red Bull is currently trailing Mercedes and Ferrari. Answering GPblog's question, he added: "It's always impossible to know, but I think after the test [we were] already [in] this position, P3-P4 as a team, I think it's not too bad."