Paddock Notes: Verstappen’s teammate checklist, Red Bull’s Ford era, and Hamilton’s hard call
Saturday’s post-Christmas paddock chatter delivered a little bit of everything: Max Verstappen set out his ideal teammate brief, Helmut Marko talked up Red Bull’s looming power unit pivot with Ford, and there were revealing reflections from both Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton on seasons that asked tough questions.
Verstappen’s wishlist for life on the other side of the garage
Max Verstappen has never been shy about what he needs to perform, and the same goes for the teammate dynamic. With Red Bull preparing to pair him with another fresh face in 2026 as Isack Hadjar steps up, the three-time World Champion framed his ideal partner in straightforward terms: friendly, open-minded, great at development, and nothing to hide. Read: no politics, no smoke and mirrors, and definitely no energy wasted on mind games.
That’s not Max drawing lines in the sand so much as it is a continuation of how Red Bull have tried to run their garage in recent years — clear roles, clear feedback loops, and no drama that doesn’t serve lap time. With 2026’s technical reset looming, the value of a teammate who can help guide a brand-new car and power unit package is obvious.
Red Bull’s “new way” with Ford moves closer
Helmut Marko summed up Red Bull’s next chapter in simple terms: a new way of doing things. After years of success with customer and rebadged engines, the team is almost at the starting grid of its first full in-house F1 power unit, developed by Red Bull Powertrains in partnership with Ford and set to debut under the 2026 regulations.
The ambition is as bold as it sounds. Building a competitive PU from scratch while fighting for championships is one of the hardest balancing acts in modern F1. But Red Bull haven’t exactly tiptoed into this — they’ve invested heavily, staffed up with experience, and built the campus infrastructure to match. If they land it, this is the kind of move that can lock in an era. If they don’t, it’ll test the team in ways we haven’t seen since the early hybrid years.
Under the skin of RB21: the car that nearly pulled off a heist
For all the talk about resets and new eras, the outgoing Red Bull RB21 deserves its spotlight. Verstappen dragged it into title contention when, at various points, that looked fanciful — and that’s before you get into the fine detail of what made the car tick.
The RB21’s story wasn’t just about peak downforce; it was about repeatable balance through a huge operating window and a platform that kept its tyres in check across wildly different circuits. Yes, rivals caught up. Yes, it wasn’t bulletproof. But if you’re building a template for an all-rounder in this ruleset, you keep circling back to what the RB21 got right.
Antonelli’s reset after the “darkest moment”
Kimi Antonelli called it the “darkest moment” of his young F1 career — a mid-season stretch in Europe when confidence dipped and results didn’t follow. The turning point, he says, came with a “big meeting” at Mercedes, a clear-the-air, align-the-goals sort of summit that’s more common in top teams than anyone admits.
Antonelli’s ceiling isn’t in question. What he’s discovering, and what Mercedes clearly want to hardwire into his routine, is how to manage the valleys as well as the peaks. That’s not a glitzy storyline, but it’s the difference between promise and permanence at this level.
Hamilton’s Ferrari call: right in principle, brutal in outcome
Lewis Hamilton backed Ferrari’s decision to pull focus early toward the 2026 rules — and he hasn’t walked that stance back. But he did concede the end point of 2025 stung more than anticipated: a campaign with no wins for Ferrari and, for Hamilton, not even a podium. For a driver of his pedigree, that’s a jolt.
Strategically, it’s defensible. If you believe 2026 resets the board and you’re not winning now, you shift resources. Emotionally, it’s a harder sell when weekends slip away and nothing falls your way. The trade-off is simple: Ferrari have to make the early pivot pay, quickly, when the new regs land. Hamilton’s patience will be measured in tenths, not months.
The thread that ties it all together
From Verstappen’s “no-nonsense” teammate template to Red Bull’s Ford venture, from Antonelli’s course correction to Hamilton’s long-game gamble, the theme of the week is clarity. The teams who know exactly what they are — and what they’re not — are setting themselves up to handle the turbulence of 2026. The ones who hedge risk drifting into the middle, and there’s no lonelier place in Formula 1 than a midfield that thought it was a frontrunner.
We’ll be back with more paddock notes as the holiday haze lifts and the factories flick from stand-by to flat-out.
