Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies has admitted their 2026 Formula 1 car possesses “significant shortcomings” following a disastrous Chinese Grand Prix for Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar.
The Milton Keynes-based squad have endured a nightmare start to the sport’s new era of technical regulations.
Operating as an independent power unit manufacturer for the first time, they have accumulated just 12 points across the opening two race weekends in Australia and Shanghai.
That meagre tally represents the team’s lowest points return to start a campaign since 2015.
Reliability woes plague new engine era
Engine-related reliability issues have hampered both drivers in the early stages of the season.
Hadjar was forced out of the season-opener in Melbourne, while reigning world champion Verstappen suffered a coolant fault that ended his race in China.
“We knew that just getting onto the grid in Melbourne with our own PU was a major achievement in itself and it would have been naive not to expect we would encounter reliability issues.”
Mekies acknowledged that the problems extend far beyond just keeping the engine running.
“We had to retire Max because of a coolant fault. However, this was not our only issue as overall, performance-wise, our package showed some significant shortcomings.”
Despite the severe setbacks, the team principal remains optimistic that data gathered over recent weeks will make them more competitive at the upcoming Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka.
Verstappen frustrated by handling struggles
Verstappen has not hidden his frustration regarding the drivability of the newly designed RB21 machinery.
The Dutch driver failed to score any points in either the Sprint or the main race at the Shanghai International Circuit.
Compromised by poor starts from eighth on the grid, he described the car as incredibly tough to drive and complained that every lap felt like a fight.
“A big problem for us is tyre degradation. We are graining a lot, probably more than the people around us. So that’s one thing we need to solve.”
The multi-time title winner highlighted that sweeping regulation changes have caused chaos up and down the pit lane.
“Then getting on top of our problems. But that’s not easy. You can see that all over the grid. Some cars are not even starting. It’s all very complicated.”
While acknowledging the immense effort from his garage, the lead driver conceded the current situation is deeply painful as they are not where they want to be.
Six-time World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea will return to competitive racing with Honda in Portimao this March, just seven months after announcing his retirement.
The 39-year-old steps in to replace the injured Jake Dixon, who is currently recovering from wrist surgery.
He originally walked away from full-time racing at the conclusion of the 2025 season following a stint with Yamaha.
However, the motorsport legend rejoined Honda last November to serve as a test rider for their upcoming 2026 campaign.
A fitting circuit for a comeback
The scheduled Portuguese round holds special significance, as it was the exact venue where the veteran made his championship debut back in 2008.
He returns to the manufacturer that helped launch his career, having previously amassed 15 race victories and 42 podiums for Honda between 2007 and 2014.
Following that initial chapter, the iconic rider cemented his legacy by winning six successive world titles with Kawasaki from 2015 to 2020.
Record-breaking pedigree
The returning test rider brings unmatched experience to the grid, holding the all-time championship records for race starts, victories, and podium finishes.
His staggering career statistics include 470 starts, 119 race wins, and 264 podiums across nearly two decades of elite competition.
Dixon is fully expected to reclaim his factory seat once his rehabilitation is complete, making this a temporary but highly anticipated cameo.
Track action for the Portimao round of the championship is officially scheduled to take place between 28 and 29 March.
Lewis Hamilton has secured his first podium finish for Ferrari at the Chinese Grand Prix, declaring himself rejuvenated after a difficult debut season with the Italian team.
Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli converted pole position into his maiden Formula 1 victory, leading home team-mate George Russell in a dominant one-two finish.
The starting grid was notably missing the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who both failed to start following critical power unit failures.
Hamilton rediscovers his rhythm
The seven-time world champion looks in significantly better shape after two races this year than he did throughout a challenging 2025 campaign.
The 41-year-old was comprehensively outperformed by team-mate Charles Leclerc last season and openly struggled with his confidence on the track.
“I definitely feel like I’m back to my best, both mentally and physically,” the former Mercedes driver said.
“Training this winter has been the heaviest and the most intense that I’ve ever had, and that probably comes hand in hand with being older.”
Adapting to a new aerodynamic era
The British veteran famously struggled to adapt his driving style to the ground-effect cars introduced during recent Formula 1 seasons.
His natural approach relies heavily on late braking and utilising pitch changes for rotation, a technique poorly suited to the previous aerodynamic philosophy.
However, recent technical regulations have shifted car dynamics back towards a style reminiscent of the pre-2022 era.
Age and technical evolution
This crucial aerodynamic shift has allowed the legendary racer to drive his car in a much more familiar and comfortable manner.
Pundits had previously questioned if age was restricting his ability to form new neural pathways and adapt to unfamiliar grip levels.
“I do think there’s more to come as I can still eke out more performance from this car while I continue learning about it,” Hamilton concluded.
Motorsport’s governing body is weighing up alterations to Formula 1’s power unit development regulations to help struggling manufacturers upgrade their engines earlier than scheduled.
A significant performance gap has emerged across the grid following the introduction of the sweeping 2026 technical rules.
Mercedes have capitalised immediately, dominating the early stages of the campaign with consecutive one-two finishes.
Mercedes dominate as rivals falter
Kimi Antonelli secured a maiden pole position and race victory ahead of his teammate George Russell at the recent Chinese Grand Prix.
Ferrari followed closely behind in Shanghai, with Lewis Hamilton besting Charles Leclerc to secure third place after an intense on-track battle.
Conversely, several established outfits have endured disastrous starts to the new regulatory era.
Regulation issues plague top manufacturers
McLaren suffered a double non-start in China, while Max Verstappen was forced to retire his Red Bull due to severe cooling issues.
Aston Martin also recorded a second consecutive double failure to finish, highlighting the severe teething problems associated with the unfamiliar cars.
Officials anticipated these initial difficulties and created the Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) system.
Adjusting the upgrade schedule
This framework enables manufacturers who fall more than two percent behind the benchmark power unit to introduce improvements at set points throughout the year.
The recent cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds threatened to disrupt this crucial development window.
However, journalist Jon Noble reports that the FIA is now working to adjust the timeline to ensure struggling teams are not unfairly penalised.
From what we understand, the FIA are going to change the wording of the regulations so it will either become a set date or will be an earlier race to divide the season into four.
Jon Noble, The Race F1 Podcast
The initial upgrade window was scheduled for after the sixth round in Miami, a timeline the governing body hopes to maintain despite the revised calendar.
Max Verstappen has warned that the new 2026 Formula 1 regulations will ruin the sport following his frustrating retirement at the Chinese Grand Prix.
The four-time world champion suffered a coolant fault on lap 46 in Shanghai to compound a miserable start to the new racing era.
His premature exit occurred during a dramatic event that saw Kimi Antonelli secure his maiden victory.
George Russell delivered another strong result for Mercedes, while Lewis Hamilton claimed his first podium finish as a Ferrari driver.
Struggles under new regulations
The sweeping 2026 rule changes introduced lighter cars and an equal split between electrical energy and internal combustion power.
These drastic shifts have heavily favoured constructors like Mercedes and Ferrari while leaving Red Bull significantly off the pace.
The 28-year-old had already endured a difficult weekend in China before his retirement, managing only a ninth-place finish in the Sprint event.
He confirmed that Formula 1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali is holding talks with Red Bull regarding potential adjustments.
Call for widespread changes
The Dutchman believes a majority of the grid shares his concerns about the long-term viability of the current racing style.
“I think they understand where we are coming from as drivers, and I think I speak for most of the drivers.”
He acknowledged that teams currently enjoying a competitive advantage are naturally reluctant to support immediate alterations.
“But if you just speak to most of the drivers, it’s not what we like,” he added.
Protecting the sport’s future
Formula 1’s leadership faces a delicate balance between maintaining commercial popularity and addressing genuine sporting concerns.
The Red Bull talisman fears that ignoring these underlying issues will eventually damage the global appeal of the championship.
“I hope they don’t think like that, because it will eventually ruin the sport.”
He remains hopeful that ongoing communication between the drivers and the governing bodies will eventually yield a viable solution.
Reigning constructors’ champions McLaren suffered a disastrous start to the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday as both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri failed to make the grid due to separate technical issues.
The Woking-based outfit rushed to prepare their machinery for lights out in Shanghai, but reigning world champion Norris was unable to leave the pit lane following a suspected electronics failure.
Moments later, heartbreak struck his Australian team-mate, who was forced back into the garage less than 10 minutes before the formation lap after engineers discovered an undisclosed problem.
Early struggles in the 2026 season
These pre-race failures compound a miserable opening to the brand-new 2026 technical regulations for the Papaya team.
Piastri previously recorded a non-start at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix after crashing his vehicle on the way to the grid.
Meanwhile, his British counterpart could only manage a fifth-place finish in Melbourne while rivals Mercedes and Ferrari dominated the podium places.
Shattered podium hopes
The double withdrawal comes as a bitter blow after the squad had shown significant pace and progress throughout the weekend in China.
Both drivers successfully locked out the third row of the grid during qualifying, trailing the Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc by just two-tenths of a second.
They had also accumulated eight valuable points during the Sprint event, finishing comfortably ahead of Mercedes title hopeful Kimi Antonelli.
Addressing the disastrous turn of events, the team released a brief update confirming their ongoing investigations into the dual failures.
“Unfortunately, we identified separate issues on both cars which prevented them from starting the Chinese GP, with Oscar’s being removed from the grid shortly before the formation lap. We will now work to identify the issue.”
McLaren Official Statement
Four cars miss the lights
The reigning constructors’ champions were not the only competitors to suffer severe pre-race reliability woes on Sunday.
Audi driver Gabriel Bortoleto encountered mechanical trouble on the grid, forcing his mechanics to push the car back to the garage with 15 minutes remaining until the formation lap.
Williams racer Alex Albon completed the quartet of non-starters, failing to emerge from the pit lane after taking his car out of Parc Fermé conditions to rectify ongoing balance issues.
British teenager Rachel Robertson and her fellow F1 Academy drivers are battling historical barriers in their quest to become the first women to qualify for Formula 1 in half a century.
The 18-year-old is among an elite group of rising stars competing in the female-only racing championship founded by the Formula 1 Group.
Motorsport has been heavily dominated by men and money since its inception, making the pathway to the pinnacle notoriously difficult for female competitors.
Overcoming early prejudice on the track
Robertson began her journey in go-karts at the age of 14, where she was typically the only girl on the circuit.
The young Briton frequently raced against boys who viewed her presence as an annoyance rather than a genuine competitive threat.
“A lot of the time in their head, they think ‘Oh, it’s just a girl in front of me, I’ll just put her off track’.”
However, the lightning-fast driver noted that those same rivals often remained silent when she crossed the finish line ahead of them.
“They don’t want to acknowledge that you’re actually better.”
“If you lose to a few of them, then they’ll be like, ‘That was good’. But if you win? They will not say anything.”
Swapping dance recitals for race circuits
That familiar frustration is shared by 20-year-old Dutch competitor Esmee Kosterman.
She remembers facing similar hostility from male peers who insisted that motorsport was not a suitable environment for girls.
Kosterman discovered her true calling at the age of six, choosing to abandon dance classes to join her father and brother at the local racing track.
“I told my parents, ‘I don’t want to dance, I want to go as well, on the circuit – driving!’ And there it all started.”
Ferrari backing accelerates development
Both drivers are currently navigating their debut season in the F1 Academy, absorbing vital experience from more seasoned competitors.
One such veteran of the series is 17-year-old Alba Larsen, who is now embarking on her second year in the championship.
The Danish prospect has secured a highly coveted seat sponsored by Italian powerhouse Ferrari.
Larsen only discovered the sport by chance during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown when close-contact rules halted her usual handball activities.
Stepping into a kart for the first time ignited a fierce passion that has rapidly propelled her to the upper echelons of junior motorsport.
Lewis Hamilton has expressed his sheer disbelief at Mercedes’ significant pace advantage after qualifying six tenths behind George Russell for the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race.
The 41-year-old secured fourth on the grid for the upcoming sprint, outperforming Scuderia team-mate Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
However, the seven-time world champion was left audibly stunned when informed of the massive time deficit to his former employers.
Questions surround Mercedes engine power
During a radio exchange with race engineer Carlos Santi, the British driver questioned where the Silver Arrows were finding their blistering speed.
“Ah, that’s insane man. That was a great lap! Still six tenths… Where’s all that speed?!”
Lewis Hamilton
Santi confirmed the difference was almost entirely power-limited, highlighting a growing performance disparity across the grid.
Dominant start to the 2026 season
Toto Wolff’s squad has made a formidable start to the 2026 campaign, spearheaded by Russell and highly-rated youngster Kimi Antonelli.
Their recent Australian Grand Prix performance saw Antonelli finish 15 seconds clear of Leclerc, prompting paddock whispers regarding the legality of the Mercedes compression ratio.
Reigning world champion Lando Norris and the rest of the chasing pack are already facing an uphill battle to curtail this early one-team dominance.
Sprint weekend schedule
Motorsport fans have voiced their frustrations on social media over the immense engine disparity as a predictable title fight looms.
The highly-anticipated Shanghai sprint race begins at 03:00 BST, followed by the main qualifying session at 07:00 BST.