How Red Bull are privately feeling about their 2026 engine after Max Verstappen ‘fine-tuning’ issue

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Red Bull Racing’s brilliant turnaround during the second half of the 2025 Formula 1 season would have given Max Verstappen plenty of faith that the team were on the right path after a tricky 12-month period.

Max Verstappen won the 2024 title despite Red Bull falling behind McLaren and Ferrari in terms of raw speed that season.

The following campaign didn’t start particularly brightly either, but Verstappen made up an incredible number of points during the final 10 races of 2025 to miss out on a fifth consecutive championship by the barest of margins.

George Russell topped the lap count at the Barcelona Shakedown 🔥

But is mileage everything at this stage? 🤔

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Rumours suggesting Verstappen could swap Red Bull for Mercedes persisted until the Dutchman committed to another year with Laurent Mekies’ team heading into the upcoming regulation changes.

The big question mark going into 2026 was how effective Red Bull Powertrains would be at building their first F1 power unit up against the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda and Audi.

Journalist and broadcaster Nelson Valkenburg is well-connected within the Red Bull team and has shared what he’s heard about their assessment of the shakedown in Barcelona.

READ MORE: All you need to know about Red Bull Racing from engine to Ford links

Red Bull ‘more and more’ proud of new 2026 F1 power unit after Barcelona shakedown

Valkenburg was asked about the Anglo-Austrian team on the Nailing the Apex Podcast and explained: “They got good mileage. They seem to get more confident in their engine package as the week progresses.

“Every time I spoke to them, they seemed more and more, let’s say, proud of what they’re achieving because let’s just not underestimate what they had to do here.

“To build your own power unit with the help of Ford, still, but you are the one doing it for the first time.

“All of your processes needed to be right. I think Red Bull Powertrains can be incredibly proud.

“I think the Red Bull itself looks very interesting. And as we saw on the final day of the shakedown, they are in the same sort of performance bracket right now.

“The only hiccup they had was Isack Hadjar’s um off.

“I also heard that Max had at least one, maybe two [offs], which could indicate that there is a fine-tuning still to be done, as you’d expect in the drivability of the car.

“If it snaps away from you like that a couple of times in very cold conditions, as well, it could mean that the way the power is implemented and how you get it to your rear wheels could be a bit harsh.

“But that’s why you do this shakedown, and that’s the learning curve every team will have with these engines.”

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

Red Bull working out ‘rough edges’ of 2026 power unit ahead of Bahrain shakedown

One of the most positive aspects of the Barcelona shakedown for Red Bull was the distance covered by themselves and Racing Bulls.

Aston Martin arrived late, giving Honda limited data to work with, and out of the two brand new power unit suppliers, Red Bull far outperformed Audi.

Red Bull are still working out the ‘rough edges’ of their engine, but reliability is the biggest concern at this stage of the season rather than outright pace.

If Mercedes end up being clear of the rest of the grid by quite some distance, then Verstappen and teammate Isack Hadjar might have their work cut out trying to fight for anything more than minor points each weekend.

However, Red Bull will back themselves to build a faster car than the likes of Alpine and Williams, and early suggestions are that the big four from the previous generation of cars still sit above the rest of the pack.