Max Verstappen warns “it’s a bit late” to address power unit concerns

Max Verstappen warns “it’s a bit late” for a review of Formula 1’s 2026 power unit regulations, after previous concerns were laid bare through pre-season testing.

The Australian Grand Prix season-opener is set to be a tough test for the new cars and power units due to the difficulties in recovering energy, with some predicting a chaotic weekend.

On Thursday, Carlos Sainz repeated his earlier suggestion that the FIA should keep an open mind on future tweaks and review how the first races go, but Max Verstappen is more sceptical.

“Well, bit late with that, right?,” he said when asked for his view. “The amount of money that has been invested as well, into these regulations, [they] will be around for a while. 

“I mean, you could have seen this coming. That suddenly now things are raised, it’s a bit late.”

Asked about possible options to adjust the amount of electrical power that drivers can deploy he said: “I don’t know. It also just depends a lot on the track layout as well. 

“You can reduce the power, but then, of course, you also go slower in lap time. So I’m not sure.

“I mean, it’s a difficult subject to actually say this is the best thing, what we have at the moment. 

“I guess that’s why they also just want to see how it goes here in the first place. But yeah, it’s all pretty complicated.”

Verstappen addresses Red Bull's standing in pecking order

Meanwhile, Verstappen insists that he doesn’t know where Red Bull stands in the 2026 pecking order, despite rivals suggesting that the team is in a good place after its Ford-backed power unit proved to be a long stronger than most observers had anticipated.

On Thursday, George Russell hinted that Mercedes thought the Milton Keynes team was sandbagging at the second Bahrain test.

“I have no idea,” said Verstappen when asked about form. “I’m very happy with what we did in pre-season.

“It’s been, I think, a really great and proud moment for everyone how the whole project came together, between the engine and the car. I was really positively surprised with how basically everything felt.

“Also the rule changes have been really complex, I think, for everyone, but in terms of the feeling in the car, driving experience between the engine in the car was good. Of course, I’ve had my say on the other things that I didn’t like.

“But what happened here within the team has been really, really good. So we are very happy with that. 

“And now, of course, looking on the performance side of things, I think we want to be a little bit faster.

“And naturally, I think everyone always wants to be faster. But from the things that I think we learned in Bahrain, at least we’re not the quickest. 

“But I have no idea. We’ll just see where we are here to start with.”

Asked by Crash.net if he was surprised that Red Bull Powertrains had got off to a good start in testing with its first PU, Verstappen indicated he had faith in the team that had been put together.

“I think everyone was probably positively surprised with the amount of laps that we were doing,” he said. 

“But you have to be also confident in the people being there, that are developing the power unit.

“And I think over time, you collect all the good individuals and you make them work together as a team. 

“And that has been really outstanding. And just fun for me, of course, to be from the outside in that sense to see.

“It’s always very hard to sync the two [PU and chassis]. 

“But so far, it’s been really good, pretty nice. It can always be better, right? That’s the mentality, that’s the focus, and that’s what we are working on. 

“And I don’t know, of course, where the ceiling is.”