A special first time
Among the many reasons of interest provided by the first GP of the 2026 Formula 1 season there was certainly that of see how the Red Bull engines would fare. In fact, the Milton Keynes team found itself grappling with a completely autonomous ‘creation’ for the first time in its history. The end result was quite satisfactory: of course, the Isack Hadjar’s retirementforced to park his car after just 12 laps with the roasted power unit was not a pretty sight, but all the other Red Bull powered cars – Verstappen’s RB22 and the two VCARBs of Lindblad and Lawson – reached the finish line.
“With such a radical change to the technical standards, some retirements were inevitable and it’s a shame that one of them was Isack’s – he commented Laurent Mekies after the race – especially after he managed to take third place on the grid. Looking on the bright side, the remaining three cars powered by Red Bull Ford Powertrains crossed the finish linetwo of which in the top-10″.
Applause for Max
Engine aside, Mekies did not fail to celebrate yet another comeback achieved by Max Verstappen in his career: “In case anyone needed reminding what an exceptional driver Max is, he put in a fantastic performance going from 20th on the grid to sixth at the finish line. This weekend we acquired a lot of data that we will put to use in a few days in China – concluded the French manager of Red Bull – we will do it more than ever this season and this has definitely been a development and learning race for us. We always know we can count on everyone at Milton Keynes to push hard and take us to the next level“.
