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Red Bull warned 2026 failure could trigger bombshell Max Verstappen exit

Former F1 driver Johnny Herbert has warned Red Bull that not being the quickest team in the upcoming 2026 season could trigger Max Verstappen’s departure. The past two seasons have seen Verstappen linked with an exit from Red Bull, with talks held with Mercedes during the first half of 2025. Ultimately, he expressed his loyalty to the Austrian outfit for this year, as F1 enters a new power unit regulation cycle. For Red Bull, this also marks the start of life as its own powertrain supplier, representing the biggest challenge in the history of the Milton Keynes-based team. While its engine looked promising during the Barcelona shakedown test, it remains to be seen how competitive it will be. Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies has already acknowledged that Verstappen is taking a risk by sticking with the team, given the scale of the task it faces. As highlighted by Herbert, the four-time world champion is not in F1 to “finish second”; the Dutchman wants to be on top and secure more world titles. For that to happen, he needs one of the best — if not the best — cars on the grid, putting pressure on Red Bull to deliver and retain the 28-year-old beyond 2026. Discussing what Red Bull must do this year to keep Verstappen, Herbert told RacingNews365 at Formula E's Miami E-Prix: "Go faster than all the others, very clearly, because he knows how the team works. "But fundamentally, it’s all going to come down to the car you start the season with — whether it’s the quickest out of the box, one of the quickest, or very, very close. It might even alternate from track to track. "That’s where, as a racing driver, you’re always thinking: what’s going to benefit me over the next couple of years to win my next world championship? The only way they’re going to achieve that is by giving him a car he can challenge with. But challenging is one thing — you’ve got to beat the likes of, say, Mercedes, for example. "If they don’t, then he’s going to look elsewhere, because that’s what racing drivers do. He’s not there to finish second. His core mentality is to win, and when he doesn’t win, he gets very annoyed. "But Lewis [Hamilton] is the same. Charles [Leclerc] is the same. George [Russell] is the same. All the drivers here in Formula E are exactly the same. They’re competitive animals, like all sportspeople are. Ultimately, it comes down to what they supply."

racingnews365.com·Jan 28

Max Verstappen reveals fascinating driver management approach

Max Verstappen has revealed his fascinating approach to driver management, with the four-time world champion overseeing several drivers as part of his GT team and Team Redline, the simulator outfit with which he has a close partnership. A day off is a rarity for Verstappen, who, when he is not racing in Formula 1, is either competing in GT machinery, racing on a simulator, or managing Verstappen.com Racing. It is one of the fastest-rising GT teams, with Verstappen heavily involved in the management of its younger drivers, one of whom he revealed has been signed from a simulator background. Verstappen’s approach to managing his drivers is based on the belief that improvement is always possible, with him making it clear that even after a victory for Red Bull in F1, he still assesses a Grand Prix to see what he could have done better. For the 28-year-old, he wants his young drivers to have the mentality of always wanting to "find more" performance, whether that comes from themselves, the team, or their rivals. Asked what advice he gives to the drivers he manages, Verstappen told the Pirelli Box Box Box podcast: "Oh, this can be a lot of different things. In general, you’re working with drivers who are just a lot more inexperienced, right? Now this year, for example, is the first year that I brought one of my sim drivers into the real world, so it’s a big learning curve. "But at the same time, we entered knowing — I said, I know this is a learning year, but we still compare ourselves with the best. We don’t go in there and just accept that P10 is a great result, for example. We still always look back at the weekend, comparing ourselves to the best, because that’s the target. That’s where we need to work towards, right? That’s, of course, working towards how the drivers are, how the teams are operating. "Of course, we take our class wins here and there; it’s nice. It’s a good little boost for the drivers as well. But yeah, after every weekend, you come back and analyse the things that can still be done better, even when you think you had a good weekend. And that’s always, I think, what I try to tell them: you can have a good weekend, you can feel happy with yourself, but you always have to look at things you can improve. "Because even if I win in Formula 1, yes, it’s a great weekend, but there are always things you look at and think, if we tried this or did that, would it have made a difference? How can we find more? You never stop learning. You always want to be better, basically, and that’s what I apply to the drivers, and to the team in general. When you think, ‘Oh, I’m happy with the car, we did a great job,’ sure — but how can you find more?"

racingnews365.com·Jan 24

Sergio Perez opens up on 'very hard' personal F1 difficulty

Sergio Pérez has opened up about the "very hard" personal difficulty that comes with the fame of being a Formula 1 driver, particularly as the only current driver on the grid from Mexico. Pérez’s first full-time campaign in F1 came with Sauber in 2011, before he went on to race for McLaren, Force India/Racing Point and, most recently, Red Bull. His F1 career was close to ending after he was not retained by Racing Point, but it was saved when Red Bull offered the 35-year-old a contract. Pérez completed four seasons with the Milton Keynes-based outfit before the two parties mutually parted ways at the end of 2024, leading to a one-year sabbatical. However, the Mexican hero is back for 2026 with new American F1 team Cadillac. His return to F1 is significant for Mexico, with Pérez being one of the most followed drivers on the grid. While he recognises that he inspires many people, Pérez — who has a young family — has revealed that he struggles with the fame that comes with being an F1 driver, believing he was not born for the spotlight. Addressing life as Perez the F1 driver and Perez the family man, the Cadillac driver told the Cracks podcast: "I think I like to separate things. I like to keep my worlds separate; I don’t like mixing them much. "I think I’ve done that since I was very young, and in the end, when you’re such a well-known character, you automatically close yourself off, no matter how much you want more relationships or more friends. Your world automatically shrinks a lot. "So when I’m with my friends, I already have my friends, and it’s hard to make new friendships in that sense because there are so many people around you that you always feel — I feel — very overwhelmed. I’m very private. Fame is very hard for me. You wouldn’t imagine it, but it’s hard for me. I’m a person who wasn’t born to be famous. "I think there are people and personalities that are made for fame. For example, my dad is a person born for fame, and he always seeks it and always wants attention, right? And I’m the complete opposite. It’s something that’s always been very hard for me. "So fame has always been difficult, and I think that’s why I’ve always separated it and know that this is a very important moment in my life — a moment where I inspire a lot of people. But it will pass, right? And tomorrow, I hope to be less known in the world and have a calmer life."

racingnews365.com·Jan 22

McLaren reveal F1 rivals 'inspiration' behind 2026 car update plans

McLaren has decided it will not follow a path set to be trodden by many of its F1 rivals and throw updates at its 2026 F1 car before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. All 11 F1 teams are scheduled to test their new machinery at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya over five days next week. For many, it will be a question of how quickly they can develop the car after the test and across the two three-day tests to follow in Bahrain in February before they head to Melbourne for the curtain-raiser on March 6-8. McLaren, though, is to bide its time, with chief designer Rob Marshall insisting the team wants to "understand" the car first before deciding in which direction it needs to head with potential upgrades. The process stems from the fact that the cars possess new power units and associated aerodynamics, and will need time to finesse, and appreciating, as well, that it may see parts on other cars that may play a role in its own development. Speaking to invited media, including RacingNews365, Marshall said: "Between Barcelona and Melbourne, I think what you see is probably pretty much what we'll bring to the first race. "A lot of our effort will be in understanding this. Also, we need to take into account what the opposition is up to: we need to be inspired by what they may or may not achieve and may or may not show us. "We really are going to have to be very focused on getting our heads around this car. It's very complicated. It's all new. "There's a lot of stuff that we need to dial in and tune in, so I think bringing a lot of new stuff to it, early doors, would complicate stuff. "I think we're better off understanding our platform before we get too keen on redesigning it before it's turned a wheel." McLaren take Austrian route Team principal Andrea Stella has outlined that McLaren will only conduct a shakedown on Monday in Barcelona before starting to test the car properly from Tuesday or Wednesday. One of the reasons for such a decision is that McLaren is pushing the development of its launch car as late as possible. "The car is in AVL in Austria to run on the dyno," said Stella, referring to the cutting-edge technology company which specialises in the testing of powertrains. "This is common practice now in F1, such that you can sign off some fundamental systems of the car much more than you can when you run some of the sub-systems, like the gearbox in a gearbox rig, and the dyno we have here at MTC. "It [AVL] is a facility that we have been using for some time, and that's where the car is at the moment, and then the car will be in Barcelona for the shakedown on track. This will happen directly at the test. We plan to start testing either on day two or day three, so we will not be testing on day one. "We wanted to give ourselves as much time as possible for development, and you are allowed to test three days over the five that are available in Barcelona."

racingnews365.com·Jan 20

F1 warned over 'huge variation' ahead of 'dynamic' 2026 F1 season

Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu believes "two elements" will contribute to what he feels will be "a huge variation" between the F1 teams as they fight to get to grips with the new regulations for this season. As the days count down towards the start of the new season in Australia in early March, the teams are at present unveiling their cars, albeit predominantly liveries only, as they keep their cards close to their chests regarding the aerodynamics. In tandem with the introduction of a new power unit, comprising a 50-50 split between combustion and electrical power, and run on 100% sustainable fuels, the bodywork of the cars has also undergone a significant overhaul in a bid for closer racing and improved overtaking. The natural early concern, however, is that the PU, in particular, will prove to be a major performance differentiator, as was the case in 2014 when the 1.6-litre turbo-hybrid engines were introduced, and Mercedes went on to dominate. The aero packages will also spark a major development race, and the pecking order could vary greatly from beginning to end, according to Komatsu. "There’s going to be a huge variation between teams because of two elements," said Komatsu, following the unveiling of the VF-26. "First is the PU, with the teams using the same provider presumably bunched up, so Mercedes providing four teams, Ferrari providing three, Red Bull two, Audi and Honda providing one. "Then on the aerodynamic side, it’s completely open, and development will happen fast. A pecking order may get established in the first four races pretty quickly, but I think it’s going to be a very dynamic season. "What you see in race one and race two, I expect will be totally different when we come to the final races of the year." As to where Haas will land in the shake-up remains to be seen. Komatsu simply wants to see progress, with the power unit and how to best utilise the deployment of the energy crucial to that. "Firstly, before we go racing, and even testing, we need to get on top of energy management, that’s the huge one," he said. "I don’t know if we all understand the full extent of the challenge because we don't know what we don't know. "Then, with aero development, we’re reasonably happy with what we've done so far, but as with all new regulations, the question will be, is the target we’ve set good enough? "When we get testing, I'm sure we’re going to see different concepts, and if we’ve missed something, we need to get on it very quickly." As to how his team will fare, Komatsu added: "For the first few races, rather than setting a sporting target, it's more a target for us. "First and foremost, get on top of PU management, then aerodynamic development. If we have to change direction or look at different concepts, again, we've got to do that promptly. "To be able to implement certain things quickly, you've got to work as a team and have clarity on communication. These are things we’ve been doing the last couple of years, and that's going to be tested even more, but I feel like we’re prepared."