Max Verstappen and the ‘miracle’ of Red Bull: “At the beginning of the year it was sometimes even a little scary to drive the car”
Weeks ago, in Monza, Max Verstappen He didn’t want to outright state that he wouldn’t win a race in all of 2026, but he did believe it was the most likely. But sometimes, unforeseeable things happen in F1. And it happened. Red Bull presented three races ago, at the Azerbaijan GP (Baku), the last evolutionary package of the year. Five aerodynamic innovations to correct the many weaknesses of your car this year. What no one expected is that with that, the performance of the car would change completely: it has been the dominant car since then.
In Baku, Verstappen couldn’t win only because he had engine problems in qualifying. But in the race, the pace of the Red Bull left everyone with their mouths open, with Hadjar and Max rising at high speed. Verstappen rose from 8th to 2nd and was two tenths away from victory. And then, he swept Sepang and, above all, in Singapore, where he took everything: pole sprint, sprint victory, pole and Sunday victory.
The explanation lies in aerodynamics, something that Mundo Deportivo can analyze in detail thanks to the designs of the specialist Alessandro Arcari.
According to the FIA document of improvements published in Baku, Red Bull presented five evolutions, the most important being its new floor “with subtle changes within the permitted geometry, to extract more local load while maintaining flow stability”. And to accompany this new floor, its technical leader, Pierre Wachéapplied changes to the geometry of the sidepods and mirrors, something crucial for everything to work together.
Laurent Mekies, Red Bull Team Principalwas excited about this improvement at that time, with the aim of achieving a victory in 2026. And they warned that they were focused on the 2027 car.
“It’s probably our last major package. We have allocated a significant part of our resources, the vast majority of them, to next year’s car. But that doesn’t mean we’re no longer paying attention to this season. We are still chasing our first victory and that is an important goal for the team. And, secondly, as you know, the regulations only present very slight changes for next year, and we have enormous opportunities to continue learning in the remaining races, to ensure that we arrive as well prepared as possible for 2027,” he said. And they have nailed it.
It’s probably our last major package
If Red Bull needed confirmation of the path forward for next year, the answer has been the best. And now, Verstappen can look very optimistically at 2027. Next year’s cars will be an evolution of this course and it was crucial to have a great base to aspire to everything. And Red Bull has already achieved it.
Mercedes, opposite path: they have gotten worse
The evolution of Red Bull is a strong warning to Mercedes, which on the other hand, in its latest evolution presented in Sepang, has experienced the opposite: the Mercedes parts sank the performance of the silver arrows in Malaysia and, although in Baku, things improved on Saturday, the star’s car is still far from its initial dominance. And that problem is key for 2027 so that Mercedes is sure of the path forward. It seems unbelievable, but the image has completely changed compared to the beginning of the year.
From scaring its drivers to scaring Mercedes
The enormous change in performance of a car that began the season suffering a lot is striking, as the fourth car behind Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren (not in this order), with which Max sometimes managed to do magic to reach the podium.
In fact, Max made it clear that at the beginning of the course, even the car “was scary” on some occasions from the cabin.
I think the car started to feel much better after Baku. It is much more balanced, unlike what happened at the beginning of the year, when it was sometimes even a little scary to drive, everything is much more pleasant
“I think the car started to feel much better from Baku onwards. It’s much more balanced. And naturally, when you can compete a little further up the road without having too many problems with the car, unlike at the beginning of the year, when it was sometimes even a little scary to drive, everything is much more enjoyable,” said Verstappen at the press conference after the F1 Singapore GP.
The way we have managed to turn things around and the enormous progress we have made this year makes everything much more satisfying
“Also, the way we have managed to turn things around and the enormous progress we have made this year makes everything much more satisfying. And if you add a few victories to that, even better. “We’re not fighting for the championship, so I think, from here to the end, we’re just going to try to enjoy it, get more podiums and, hopefully, some more wins.”added the Dutchman, who renewed with Red Bull in Zandvoort precisely because he believed that this jump was possible. I wanted to fight for another title. The improvement came late and will not allow him to fight for the crown in 2026, but he does want to do so in 2027.
“We have learned a lot and, without a doubt, we have also corrected many of our weaknesses when it comes to the car
“We have learned a lot and, without a doubt, we have also corrected many of our weaknesses when it comes to the car. “Now we simply have to continue improving and learning during this year to be able to apply all that knowledge next year as well.”said Max.
This time, they have taken a step forward purely through changes in aerodynamics, and in turn, powered by a very good engine produced by themselves, something that gives it even more value. This shows the enormous strength of the Red Bull factory.
The situation is very different from that of 2025, when Max had to find during the weekend the car adjustments that would put him in the small window of good performance to be able to fight for wins. This time, the pieces have made the leap and Max takes advantage of it with his hands. They’re already scary.
