“The Only Mindset That Fits Red Bull”, claims Red Bull team principal, but is Red Bull a genuine Formula 1 title contender for Max Verstappen in 2026? Even team principal Laurent Mekies is reluctant to make bold predictions. With sweeping technical regulation changes set to define the season, Red Bull is deliberately keeping expectations realistic, especially as the team embarks on one of the biggest challenges in its history by producing its own power unit for the first time.
However, behind the scenes, Red Bull’s winter preparation has not been entirely smooth, with serious issues emerging early on that have largely gone unnoticed in the mainstream Formula 1 media. Reports suggest that engine issues have plagued the first few days of testing in Spain.
Red Bull keeps expectations in check ahead of 2026
Speaking on the sidelines of pre-season testing in Barcelona, Mekies emphasised just how unprecedented the task is.
“The scale of this challenge is monumental,” he told De Telegraaf, the Dutch newspaper. “Developing your own engine from scratch shouldn’t be underestimated. If you think we’ll immediately be on the same level as manufacturers who have been doing this for ninety years, that’s not going to happen.”
These comments reflect a wider mood across the paddock. The 2026 season may be the first in which no team can confidently declare itself a title favourite. With the regulations rewritten from the ground up, there is no proven reference point, everyone is effectively starting from zero.
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A Clean-Sheet Formula 1 Era
The new technical rules mean that even established frontrunners cannot simply evolve existing concepts. Aerodynamics, chassis design and power units have all been reset, eliminating any sense of continuity. According to Mekies, this uncertainty applies to every team on the grid, not just Red Bull.
‘There is no foundation you can simply build on,” he explained. “Everyone is starting from scratch.”
For Red Bull, however, the challenge is particularly complex. While their rivals rely on long-established engine programmes, Red Bull Powertrains is still in its infancy. This makes instant dominance unlikely, a fact that Mekies believes must be acknowledged honestly.
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Verstappen fully involved despite the uncertainty
Given the unknowns surrounding the RB22 and its brand-new power unit, it is only natural that questions have arisen about Max Verstappen’s patience during the early phase of the project. Mekies, however, sees no cause for concern.
“It would be very naive to believe that we’ll be at the highest level immediately. That would be crazy,” he said. “And it would also be strange to think that Max doesn’t understand this; he understands it completely.”
According to the Red Bull boss, Verstappen is deeply involved in the development process.
“Max is involved in every discussion, every analysis and how we take risks. He’s included in everything,” Mekies stressed.
Even if Red Bull finds itself ‘flying blind’ during the opening races, the long-term objective remains unchanged.
“The fact that we’re objectively describing the current situation doesn’t mean we lack ambition,” said Mekies. “Becoming world champions is the only mindset that suits Red Bull.”
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Hadjar Crash Highlights Testing Risks
The unpredictability of the new era was highlighted during pre-season testing in Barcelona, when new Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar was involved in the first crash of the test. The 21-year-old Frenchman lost control of the RB22 in the fast final corner on a rain-affected Tuesday afternoon, sending the car into the barriers and triggering a red flag.
“The conditions were extremely difficult,” Mekies explained. “It’s regrettable that it ended this way, but these things can happen. These things can happen.”
Red Bull had completed only one lap on a fully dry track before the rain started. Despite the incident, Mekies insisted that the practice session had still been valuable.
“It was interesting to drive in these conditions,” he said.
Hadjar took over from Verstappen after the lunch break, with the reigning world champion completing the morning session. Footage later showed damage to the rear wing of the RB22, but Mekies was quick to shift the focus away from the car.
‘The most important thing is that Isack is okay,” he said. “We’ll do our best to repair the car and see what happens next.”
Strong Early Signs Despite Setbacks
Despite the crash, Red Bull remains encouraged by its early testing programme. Mekies described the first day of testing, when Hadjar completed both sessions and topped the timing sheets, as “very, very positive”.
‘That applies both to the number of laps completed and to Isack’s development and feedback to the engineers,” he said.
Red Bull opted not to run on the final day of testing, choosing instead to keep its third day in reserve. Behind the scenes, however, the RB22 has already attracted considerable attention.
RB22 Aero Concept Raises Eyebrows
In Barcelona, Red Bull’s latest aerodynamic concept became one of the main talking points in the paddock.
According to Speedweek, rival teams were ‘baffled’ by the design of the RB22’s sidepods, which differ markedly from those of Red Bull’s previous cars.
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Early technical concerns lurk beneath the surface
While Red Bull’s public messaging has focused on realism rather than alarm, specialist reporting suggests that the team encountered tangible technical difficulties in the opening days of its 2026 programme.
According to AutoRacer, the new RBPT power unit suffered from overheating issues that were more severe than expected, which disrupted the planned development path during the first phase of testing.
Consequently, Red Bull engineers had to adopt more conservative cooling solutions than initially intended, particularly at the rear of the car. Rather than exploring performance limits, the focus shifted towards safeguarding reliability, which has inevitably influenced the data gathered and the visual configuration of the RB22 during its Barcelona testing.
These measures help to explain both the team’s cautious public tone and their reluctance to draw conclusions about their competitiveness at this stage. After all, lap times are not really something anyone is currently focused on during these shakedown tests in Barcelona.
Necessary caution
Although Red Bull has offered no official confirmation, this episode highlights just how exposed teams are in the early stages of the new regulation cycle, particularly those developing a power unit in-house for the first time.
In this context, Red Bull’s caution seems less like modesty and more like necessity.
While it is still too early to judge performance, Red Bull’s bold approach suggests that the team is willing to take calculated risks, even if immediate success is far from guaranteed. This could perhaps explain why the car has been experiencing engine and cooling issues.
Long-time fans will probably remember the horror stories surrounding the then-new V6 Hybrid 2014 Renault engine in Jerez testing. Burnt bodywork with ad-hoc sawn-off sections to improve cooling, along with breakdowns halfway around a lap, a story that this website exclusively broke back in the day.
Fortunately for Max Verstappen and his young new team mate Isaak Hadjar, we already seem far from that last seismic change in engine formula.
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RB22 in the hands of Verstappoen: Day 2 Barcelona 2026
Formula One’s biggest technical regulation change in history for 2026 had many amongst the teams, the FIA and FOM concerned they would be perceived a failure at early testing. The first of the pre-season tests – although for contractual reasons with Bahrain its called a shakedown – is now into day two at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Just 39 days after Lando Norris claimed his maiden F1 championship the teams are ready to go with all new cars and powertrains. Yet there have been casualties along the way, with Williams not in attendance for a variety of technical reasons. The first being thy have repeatedly failed the FIA’s crash test for the nose cone together with the fact the car is vastly overweight.
McLaren too have delayed the start to testing their car and Aston Martin have indicated the most they will achieve is some running on the final two days this week. However, seven teams and all the power unit manufacturers with the exception of Honda, were on track as the lights went green in Montmelo on Monday morning. All eyes were on Red Bull who are the first ever F1 customer team to build their own power train, with many expecting them to fall at the first hurdle.
Russell impressed with Red Bull
Yet the sleek RB22 in the hands of Max Verstappen’s new team mate Isack Hadjar, was impressive, even drawing attention from rival drivers and teams. When asked about how the day had gone for Mercedes, George Russell chose to name check the team’s arch rivals Red Bull along with Ferrari as having stand out days.
“For sure we’re very pleased with the day, but I was pretty impressed with a number of other teams, to be honest,” he said.“You see the Red Bull-powered teams, [with] a brand-new power unit, and they had a really smooth day with two cars. Haas did the most laps of everyone with a Ferrari engine.
“So it’s not quite 2014 vibes of half the grid is breaking down and having loads of issues. Formula 1 has evolved so much since then and the level is just so high, from every single aspect. It was pretty impressive to see all the teams on the whole having a lot of laps under their belts on day one,” the Mercedes’ driver concluded.
Whilst the day and the week was supposed to be a black out to the media, the vantage points around the circuit were filled with fans and long lenses alike. Security teams were sent to gently move folk along, although this merely saw them pop up at another viewpoint around the circuit…CONTINUE READING THIS STORY
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