Verstappen gives honest verdict on Red Bull's first half of the season

Despite scoring multiple podiums during the first half of the Formula 1 season, Verstappen is yet to win a Grand Prix. He came closest at the Red Bull Ring, where he finished just behind George Russell.

After Lando Norris' victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing remains the only frontrunning team yet to win a race in 2026.

Looking back at the first half of the campaign, the Dutchman had a clear verdict. "Tough. In general, it’s been very tough. Some good moments, some bright, shining moments, I guess, but overall, tough."

He continued: "So, I think we need to try and be more solid, a bit more all-round, to have more straightforward weekends. Plus, we need to find more performance. I mean, it’s as simple as that at the end of the day. Then, besides finding more performance, just not having the issues as well with the current package, let’s say, that we have."

Looking ahead, Verstappen discussed what the team's priority should be during the second half of the season. He said: "We need to first find more overall performance. Then we need to fix our problems, where we sometimes just lose performance over a weekend, or even from the start of the race to the end. So, yeah, that is also actually a big priority."

In terms of the power unit, he added: "Well, I would love to have some ADUO as well. Yeah, somehow. But that’s—I don’t know. We’ll see. We’ll have another look after the break."

In terms of ADUO, however, GPblog has previously learned that the Red Bull Ford power unit would once again be rated above the Mercedes, given that the FIA uses the same measurement method it applied earlier this year.