Max Verstappen has hailed Red Bull’s start with their new power unit at pre-season testing as “very positive”, the Dutchman admitting that the performance has been “amazing to see” from a new manufacturer.
With 2026 marking the maiden season in which Red Bull Powertrains – in partnership with Ford – will supply engines to both Red Bull and Racing Bulls, the debut power unit has been given its first extended mileage during the Barcelona Shakedown and now at official pre-season testing in Bahrain.
The opening day of the first test at the Bahrain International Circuit looked like a strong one for Red Bull, with Verstappen recording the highest lap count of any driver on 136 tours.
Pushed on how pleasantly surprised he had been by the performance of the new engine so far, the four-time World Champion responded: “It’s of course amazing to see that, as a new manufacturer, to come in. Also for everyone to see the new car and engine together, it’s like their little baby!
“And like I said, it’s still of course a lot to learn, but I think we’re heading in the right direction. Of course there’s still things we want to do better, for sure. I think we’ll never be satisfied but, like I said, at least we’re not breaking down. I think that no-one really expected that from the start, that we would go out of the garage without exploding! That has been very positive.”
Reflecting more generally on how he felt about what he had achieved during Wednesday’s running, Verstappen said: “We did a lot of laps with not big problems, otherwise you can’t do that lap count.
“And that’s been our target – trying to really understand this new formula, trying to understand the engine and the car, making sure that things are reliable, and that’s an ongoing process.”
Verstappen described the mood as “fine” within the Red Bull camp, adding that much focus was going on continuing to learn about the new technical regulations introduced for 2026.
“You’re working with new rules, so there’s a lot of attention to detail and a lot of things that we still need to get on top of,” he explained. “It’s all very complex, and I’m sure that, even in the beginning of the season, there’s still a lot of things that we will figure out just going along. So yeah, it’s good to have the testing here and try to understand everything.”
Quizzed further on whether he feels in a good spot from what has been learned about the car so far, Verstappen answered: “I don’t know what spot I am – I know that I’m in Bahrain! But I don’t know, I have no idea.
“It’s also impossible to know, because you don’t even know [with] your rivals, are they running full power or not? [You don’t know] whatever is going to happen in Melbourne – cars are going to change also rocking up in Melbourne, so for me it’s always very difficult to say anything about testing.
“For me, yesterday we just focused on ourselves, trying to do many laps and try not to break down, and that was positive yesterday.”
Looking ahead to Friday in Bahrain – the final day of the first test before a second three-day test follows next week from February 18-20 – Verstappen set out the plan for what he hopes to achieve as he prepares to split driving duties with team mate Isack Hadjar.
“Just driving a bit more,” the 28-year-old said. “It’s half a day for me tomorrow. Try to just understand the car and engine a bit more for myself, not only from the engineer side of things.”
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