Max Verstappen was right to be worried about key Red Bull employee who made big mistake with 2025 car

Follow us on Google Discover

Max Verstappen’s 2025 championship is over in the eyes of many after his retirement at the Austrian Grand Prix.

It was a disastrous weekend on home soil for Red Bull as they failed to score any points, their worst ever result at the track. Verstappen was taken out of the race by Kimi Antonelli at turn four, while teammate Yuki Tsunoda finished last and two laps down.

With Red Bull’s scoreless finish and McLaren’s one-two, the former is now 255 points behind the latter in the constructors’ championship. Verstappen has fallen 61 points behind Oscar Piastri in the drivers’ championship, making his title aspirations more and more unlikely.

His retirement at the Austrian Grand Prix could not have come at a worse time for Red Bull. Verstappen can activate his exit clause after the race, with Toto Wolff and George Russell confirming he is talking with Mercedes.

Verstappen has been frustrated by Red Bull’s upgrades, having constantly called for changes to the RB21 as even he has struggled to drive the car in 2025. It all points to one key employee whom the Dutchman has been having concerns about.

Max Verstappen was right to worry about Pierre Wache as he has made Red Bull’s operating window ‘way too narrow’

Since Adrian Newey left Red Bull, technical director Pierre Wache has struggled to replace his influence, having overseen the team’s regression. Verstappen has lost confidence in Wache and the technical department as they have not got anywhere with their updates in 2025.

The 27-year-old could only manage P7 in qualifying in Austria, remarkably being beaten by Liam Lawson in the Racing Bulls. Verstappen’s camp do not trust Wache to improve the RB21 and have been baffled by comments that Red Bull could learn from their sister team.

Clearly, faith in the Frenchman from the four-time champion is non-existent, and he had every right to be worried. Journalist Ronald Vording said Wache did not want to ‘broaden’ Red Bull’s operating window in 2025 in fear it would lose ‘potential’ – he has now gone too far in the other direction.

“Austria has shown that the setup window and the operating window of the car is still extremely narrow and I would say way too narrow,” said Vording via Autosport.

“And we saw that on Saturday. Red Bull made changes after Friday practice. Max was still not fully happy, but at least he was competitive in FP3 when it was relatively cool.

“Then the temperatures went up and in qualifying he said the car literally fell apart. Of course, he was unlucky with the yellow flag, but he didn’t even want to talk about it because he said the car was literally nowhere in the heat.

“And that’s tricky because both aspects are linked, because I had a chat with Pierre Wache, the technical director, over the winter exactly about this and he said: ‘I don’t really want to broaden the window, because if you broaden the window, you can lower the overall potential’.

“So what he wanted was to find the window for every track, no matter how narrow the window would be. But Austria has shown that that’s much easier said than done.”

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

Max Verstappen is becoming more critical of Red Bull as he says ‘yes’ to Mercedes

Verstappen’s trust in Wache and Red Bull’s technical department will only get worse if they cannot seriously improve the car. While he has continued to display brilliant speed with two wins and three poles, he now faces an uphill struggle to catch the McLarens.

It also casts doubts from within the Dutchman’s camp about the team’s power unit for the 2026 F1 regulations. Those close to him think Verstappen could have a ‘painful’ season with Red Bull’s engine next season, adding more fuel to the fire that he could seek pastures new.

The four-time champion is now becoming more critical of other departments at Red Bull. There have even been reports that Verstappen wants Christian Horner’s powers to be ‘curtailed’ or for him to be outright replaced if the Milton Keynes outfit want to keep him on board.

Verstappen has ‘said yes’ to Mercedes as Toto Wolff has reportedly reached a provisional agreement with the Dutchman. The move needs approval from the Mercedes board, as Red Bull scramble behind the scenes to keep their star driver for next season.