Max Verstappen made an honest assessment of the first half of the 2026 Formula 1 season and acknowledged the difficulties faced by Red Bull Racing. Still without wins in the championship, the Dutchman stated that the team needs to find more performance and solve problems that compromise performance throughout the weekends.
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Despite some podiums, Verstappen is still seeking his first win of the season. The closest result was at the Red Bull Ring, where he finished just behind the winner, George Russell. After Lando Norris’ victory at the Hungarian GP, Red Bull became the only team among the main grid contenders that has yet to win a race in 2026.
Reviewing the campaign up to the category’s break now in August, the four-time world champion was straightforward: “Difficult. Overall, it has been very difficult. We had some good moments, some positive moments, but overall, it was a complicated first half,” he said.
Verstappen explained that the team needs to improve in different aspects to consistently compete for wins again: “We need to be more consistent, more complete, to have more straightforward weekends. Also, we need to find more performance. In the end, it’s simple. We also need to eliminate the problems we have with the current package,” he said.
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He also defined what should be Red Bull’s priority after the championship resumes: “First, we need to find more performance overall. Then, solve the problems that cause loss of performance during a weekend, or even from the start to the end of a race. That is a big priority,” he added.
Asked about the power unit, Verstappen commented that he would like to see advances in the ADUO system but avoided making predictions: “I would love to have some ADUO as well. Somehow. But I don’t know. We’ll look at that again after the break,” concluded the Dutch driver.
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