Red Bull’s start to the F1 2026 season has not been consumed by star driver Max Verstappen’s dislike of the new regulations and his claims that it could be what sees him leave the sport.
Rather, Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies, says that is “one per cent” of his conversations with the four-time world champion, with the other 99 per cent all about what the team can do to improve the RB22.
Laurent Mekies downplays Max Verstappen exit concerns at Red Bull
At the start of a new engine formula where all five manufacturers – Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull-Ford, Audi and Honda – are being caught out by reliability glitches with the power units and the batteries, some have had it worse than others such as Honda, with the batteries causing unraceable vibrations, while electrical issues with McLaren’s Mercedes PU led to a double DNS at the China Grand Prix.
Only four teams – Mercedes, Ferrari, Alpine, Racing Bulls – have seen the chequered flag with both cars in all three grands prix, while six cars have even had a DNS recorded next to their name.
Nico Hulkenberg and Oscar Piastri didn’t start in Australia, a battery issue for the German and a crash for the Aussie, while in Melbourne the list expanded to Piastri, Lando Norris, Alex Albon, and Gabriel Bortoleto. Three were engine or battery-related, while Albon had a hydraulics issue.
But it’s not the reliability that has been the biggest problem; it’s the way the new engines force a driver to go racing.
No lap is flat-out anymore, not even in qualifying.
Battery harvesting, and super clipping, have become the buzzwords as the drivers sacrifice speed, often on the straights, to harvest energy. Instead of racing flat-out, they are having to lift and coast or resort to super clipping, which is when the electrical system siphons power from the combustion engine into the battery.
When you are in P7 or P8 and you are not enjoying the whole formula behind it, it doesn’t feel natural to a racing driver,” he told BBC Sport. “Of course I try to adapt to it, but it’s not nice the way you have to race. It’s really anti-driving. Then at one point, yeah, it’s just not what I want to do.
“I want to be here to have fun and have a great time and enjoy myself. At the moment that’s not really the case.”