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Motorsport

Max Verstappen’s take on Red Bull’s problems, Oliver Bearman’s crash, and how to fix 2026 F1 rules

Max Verstappen Red Bull F1 Franco Colapinto Red Bull Racing Alastair Staley Alpine LAT Images Motorsport Ollie Bearman

Three rounds into the 2026 Formula 1 season, Max Verstappen lies just ninth in the standings, with 12 points to his name. His Red Bull RB22 struggles for competitiveness, and the four-time world champion is disenchanted as ever with F1’s new machinery.

The Japanese Grand Prix compounded Verstappen’s aggrieved state of mind. The Suzuka track he loves didn’t provide the same driving experience as it used to due to the new energy management requirements; furthermore, the Dutchman was eliminated in Q2 and incapable of overtaking Alpine’s Pierre Gasly for seventh place on Sunday – which he blames on the new engine formula.

The main event in the Suzuka race certainly was Oliver Bearman’s 50G crash, with the Haas driver losing control after catching Franco Colapinto’s Alpine by 45km/h. Verstappen hints, somewhat sarcastically, at the ‘safety’ reason potentially being used by the FIA to push some changes through amid criticism of the new rules – in a context where he clearly is reconsidering his future in F1 depending on possible tweaks to the regulations.

Here’s everything the Red Bull driver told the written press in the post-race media pen.

Question: You got a really, really good view of the back of the Alpine in that race. How stuck do you feel in a race like that?

Max Verstappen: I mean, I had a good look also in China, I think I was behind it. Yeah, I think we were a tiny bit faster a lap, but you just can't pass – well you can pass, but then you have no battery the next straight. So I tried one time just to have a look, so I passed him into the final chicane, but then you have no battery the next straight. So I was like, ‘See you later! Try again in a few laps!’”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Pierre Gasly, Alpine (Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images)

Motorsport: Given that you were stuck for so long, are there any things to learn maybe in terms of deployment, what they do with the Mercedes engine?

I think our deployment was good. That's also not our biggest problem, to be honest. I think actually, from the engine side, yes, correlation and a few things, calibration, we can be better. But actually, in terms of pure power, it's not our worst thing for sure. We're not like Mercedes, they're super strong, but we definitely have a lot more work to do on the car.

Lando Norris said that when you're in Overtake Mode behind another car, for him it basically deploys automatically down the back straight towards 130R. Then you basically have to lift off because you don't want to be deploying your battery there because then you have nothing off the chicane. Is that how it is? Is it just completely automatic?

Well yes, we have a little bit more usage of course when you are within one second. And especially on a track like this where it's quite poor, the energy management that you can use in a lap, in general you just have to be very careful with how you use your battery.

It's a bit tricky. The problem is of course you have a long straight and then only a little chicane and then a long straight again. So if you deploy in one straight you have nothing on the other. Whereas on some other tracks if you have a long straight then you have maybe a few corners and you have time to charge, here you don't. That's basically in a lot of places where you want to go for an overtake, then there's only one corner to charge and then a long straight again. So that makes it basically impossible to use the battery because it's completely inefficient to do that.

Motorsport: I don't know if you've seen the incident with Ollie Bearman yet.

No, I didn't.

Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team, Franco Colapinto, Alpine (Photo by: Mark Thompson / Getty Images)

Motorsport: There was a massive closing speed with him coming to Franco Colapinto.

Yeah, that's what you get with these things. I mean, one guy is completely stuck with no power basically, and then the other one uses the mushroom mode and it can be 50km/h, 60km/h difference. It's really, really big.

Did you have any near-misses today?

No, I don't think so. I mean, I had a few moments but then I boosted past very heavily, but luckily I was already committed to one side.

Do you have to reconsider how you're racing? Because when Franco was in front of Ollie, he basically opened up through 200R before Spoon, kind of how you would have, a month ago, just to cover the entry.

And then suddenly it clips.

But Bearman's so much faster. It's like the equivalent of moving in the braking zone, but that's not what you're doing.

Yeah, it can be very dangerous. It looks like moving under braking or moving in general, but it also happens when you have that quick deceleration. You can have a big crash.

Motorsport: But the consensus, at least from the teams and the FIA, is ‘Well, we need to fix qualifying but the racing is not so bad’. What's your take on that?

Well, for me it's all the same. Of course, in qualifying, you don't want to have this kind of lifting stuff. And there are a lot of other rules, it's not only about lifting, it's also a lot about other rules where you can't go flat or you have to lift or not be close to flat and then put in a lift.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing (Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images)

I mean it's so confusing, everything, and that's not how it should be. It's all super sensitive. In qualifying, to go faster you need to basically go slower. Like, less throttle and everything. It's just not how it should be.

You never do flat out 130R?

No, you are flat out but the battery just cuts so then you just slow down.

You never do flat out.

Yeah, I am flat out. But then you switch off the battery. [silence] It's like your mood!

It's not so Suzuka. It's not Suzuka.

Well, I still enjoy Suzuka. It's still a beautiful track. It's just unfortunate that now it's not as enjoyable to drive. Still a fantastic track.

Are the Esses still the same?

You basically use no battery. So you’re just like [sound effect].

Motorsport: But given what we have seen today, it was quite a safety concern. Do you think that's possible to fix on the relatively short term for Miami?

Well, if it's all about ‘safety’ it's easy to fix things. You can use ‘safety’ for a lot of stuff. So maybe we should use the word ‘safety’ for it. To finally make some changes.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing (Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images)

What do you expect from next month [during the five-week April break]? What are you going to do?

Let's see in a month. We have a lot of work to do.

What's the preparation like for you for the Nurburgring 24 Hours?

I mean, I'm constantly in discussions. I still have a lot of ideas that I want to try. At the end of the day, of course, it's all about making sure that all four drivers have good experience and a good feeling with the car. And make sure that it runs well, right? That it's reliable, all the parts, and that we are well prepared for that. I still need to drive maybe a little bit in the wet, hopefully; dark, as well. So I hope to get those things in before the 24h.

How difficult is it to keep your motivation in this car?

It's a valid question. Every day I wake up I convince myself again. And I try.

You look like the engine.

Yeah! You start well in the morning, and then…

Motorsport: Then you need a coffee to get going again.

Red Bull. Red Bull keeps me going.

How are you going to spend your time?

I hope to have most of it family-time-related. Then hopefully a little bit more racing on the Nordschleife. Besides that, I always have constant discussions with the team anyway.

Motorsport: Is the main goal now first to understand what happened this weekend? Because of course you have the break to fix stuff. But step one is probably to understand it.

Understand the new package, because I'm not so sure that worked really well here. It had a lot of stability problems for me. And then of course, from there, work. Just get a bit more of a stable balance, understand also the engine, the deployment a little bit better. Just be a bit more solid all around, I would say.