Verstappen sends a stern warning to Red Bull Racing

It’s been clear for some time that Verstappen is not a fan of the new regulations. The fact that the four-time world champion has to lift more often and take corners in lower gears to save the battery goes strongly against his natural driving instinct. In Shanghai, however, it turns out Verstappen doesn’t just have a problem with the current cars.

It’s specifically the RB22 that Verstappen is struggling with now. Verstappen is highly competitive and prefers to finish every session on top. That’s always been the case, and since 2021, Verstappen has fought for the title every year. In 2026, however, that seems hopeless, and Red Bull has slipped back into the midfield.

No one expected Red Bull Racing to be competitive right away in 2026. That assumption was mainly based on Red Bull Ford's completely new engine. Everyone thought it would take time for that unit to become competitive. The engine, however, is not the biggest problem at the moment.

“A little bit from the engine side, but that's not probably the biggest side. We lose so much with the car at the moment around here. Plus also I cannot push at all because the car doesn't let me. So that's why also I don't really feel in control of the car. You cannot… I mean it's just really not how it should be,” Verstappen said after qualifying.

While the engine team in Milton Keynes deserves major credit, this is a clear warning to the Red Bull Racing team that designed the car. Some lag behind the competition would be understandable, but Red Bull is expected to build one of the strongest, if not the strongest, cars. That clearly hasn’t happened.

This is the first car that can truly be credited entirely to Pierre Waché. The car whose foundations were laid in 2022 was one from the hand of Adrian Newey. Although many within Red Bull continue to claim that Newey had long since stopped working on car design, this is the first car for which Waché could no longer seek any advice from the technical mastermind.

It should be noted that Red Bull Racing pulled out all the stops in 2025 to secure one more world title for Verstappen. The RB21 continued to receive updates well into the season to close the gap to McLaren. Verstappen ultimately came up two points short of the title but has taken a much bigger step back in 2026.

Still, the 2025 title fight shouldn’t be an excuse for the 2026 performances. In 2022, Red Bull was immediately competitive after a long title battle in 2021. Of course, the changes were less drastic then, but the car was immediately good for pole positions and wins. The RB22 is more than a second off that pace.

The fact that it’s mainly the car and not the engine is also demonstrated by Racing Bulls. In both Australia and China, Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad are eerily close to the drivers of the senior team. In the sprint race in China, it was even Racing Bulls who scored points, while Red Bull Racing came away with a zero.

There’s surely still room to improve the engine as well, but the fact that Racing Bulls, as a small team, is immediately so competitive shows that the engine clearly is, too. It’s therefore up to Red Bull Racing to extract much more from its own knowledge and resources and make the step to the top. In 2025, Waché did himself a favor by continuing to develop the RB21 well with his team and nearly clinching the title with Verstappen. However, there will now be a lot of pressure to make a significant leap forward in the 2026 development race. Otherwise, questions about Verstappen’s future will quickly resurface.