Formula 1 Bahrain Pre-Season 2
Red Bull: "Zero concerns" about Max Verstappen leaving F1 amid new rules criticism
Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies is not afraid that Max Verstappen will leave Formula 1. He even believes the Dutchman can become the best at “mastering the new regulations”
Ronald Vording
Edited: Feb 18, 2026, 4:08 PM
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Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Mark Thompson / Getty Images
Of all 22 drivers on the grid, Max Verstappen has so far been most outspoken about the new technical regulations.
The four-time world champion described it as “Formula E on steroids” and added during a Dutch media session that there was a period last year when he preferred not to test the 2026 car in the simulator, simply because the feeling was so poor.
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It has led to suggestions that Verstappen’s love for F1 – at least if the engine formula continues in this direction – might cool. The Dutchman himself did little to deny that impression. He confirmed that this ruleset “does not help” his chances of staying in F1 for longer, and added that his fans could just as well have a barbecue next to the track in another racing category.
However, after a question from Motorsport.com, Mekies made it clear that he does not fear Verstappen leaving F1.
“The short answer to that question is no, zero concerns about that,” the Frenchman said at the beginning of the second test week in Bahrain.
“And yes, I do recall our conversations last year when he was switching from one car model to another car model, so from '25 to '26 in the sim. And yes, the difference was so big that at some stage, I think rightly so, he decided to focus on the '25 approach.
“But, you know, the reality is that the challenges of these regulations are massive. They are massive for the teams, massive for the power unit manufacturers, and massive for the drivers as well. It is different for all of us, but that's also what we love – to try to break through these challenges, to try to find solutions that we felt were not on the table. And that's what we will do with Max’s help."
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Mekies even believes that Verstappen can ultimately use the complexity of the 2026 regulations to his advantage. He is one of the best drivers that is able to retain mental bandwidth while driving, which leads Mekies to predict that Verstappen can extract a competitive advantage from all the new tools, even though he is not a fan of them.
“I'm quite confident that, as it will turn out, he will most likely become the best at mastering these regulations, and the technicalities and tricks, as much as he was in the previous set of regulations.”
Technical director Pierre Wache previously said that Red Bull cannot make Verstappen enjoy the new rules more, but that the Milton Keynes-based team can only provide him with a competitive package.
“It's not my goal to make him happy,” Wache said. “We can only make him happy by winning the race. My job and the job of the team are to make sure that we give him the tool that he's able to compete at the front.
“The regulation itself and how the car design is, in terms of how we feel with the car, due to this regulation, is an outside area. It’s an FIA discussion. We can participate in that, but the main purpose and the main focus is to make the car better.”
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Red Bull the fourth team at the moment?
Like Wache, Mekies indicated that he does not believe Red Bull currently has the best car on the grid. Both the team boss and the technical director predict that Red Bull will be the fourth-fastest team during the season opener in Melbourne.
“We have a huge amount of work to do, unfortunately, we are not the benchmark,” Mekies said. “We have a very high confidence that we are probably trailing the group of the top guys right now.”
According to Mekies, that group of “top guys” consists of two Mercedes-powered teams and Ferrari: “I'm not going to enter the guessing game myself, but we think that Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, and McLaren are probably those guys, and that the three of them are a fair bit faster than us right now.”
Photos from Bahrain Pre-Season Testing - Day 4
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Bahrain Pre-Season Testing Day 4, in photos
Bahrain Pre-Season Testing Day 4, in photos
Bahrain Pre-Season Testing Day 4, in photos
Bahrain Pre-Season Testing Day 4, in photos
Bahrain Pre-Season Testing Day 4, in photos
Bahrain Pre-Season Testing Day 4, in photos
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