Guenther Steiner has made a career out of saying the quiet bit loud, but he’s wandered into particularly sensitive territory with the Verstappens — and he’s got the sharp end of it.
The former Haas boss, now part of the Tech3 MotoGP project, was quoted suggesting Max Verstappen’s vocal dislike of Formula 1’s 2026 rules is ultimately conditional: if Red Bull were winning, Steiner argued, Verstappen “would be really happy” and would be calling them “the best regulations ever”.
Jos Verstappen didn’t bother with nuance in reply. Posting on social media, he wrote: “Hi Guenther. I understand why you not a F1 team boss anymore. The way you talk.” The jab has done the rounds fast, pulling in hundreds of thousands of views and thousands of likes — the sort of engagement that tells you the paddock’s current mood is as combustible as the cars are supposed to be efficient.
Max’s position on the new era hasn’t exactly been subtle. Back in February testing he memorably compared 2026-spec F1 to “Formula E on steroids”, and in Canada he doubled down on the idea that he’ll weigh up his future if a mooted change doesn’t get over the line because of manufacturer resistance.
That context matters, because Steiner’s point isn’t really about whether Verstappen is being consistent — it’s about the oldest political tug-of-war in this sport: are drivers allowed to challenge the direction of the show, or do we file it under “sour grapes” until the lap times improve?
The Canadian Grand Prix added another layer. Verstappen took his first podium of the 2026 season, finishing third behind Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton. It’s hardly a crisis result, but it’s also not the kind of form that makes a four-time world champion sit back and trust that everything will work itself out. When the competitive order is still fluid and the regulations are already being “refined”, every comment becomes ammunition.
Those refinements are central to why the Verstappen-Steiner spat has bite. The FIA has already moved to tweak the regulations, with an adjustment to the current 50:50 split between internal combustion and electrical power agreed in principle for next season. And Red Bull, crucially, has signalled it will back the proposed tweaks aimed at the 2027 season.
Laurent Mekies, now Red Bull team principal, was candid in Canada about how awkward this all is for the grid. On one hand, the sport wants cars that can push harder, more often; on the other, nobody is thrilled about opening up the rulebook late enough that it “will almost certainly force a redesign of the 2027 cars.”
“We support any step that the sport wants to make to get closer to flat-out qualifying and to flat-out racing,” Mekies said. “As Red Bull-Ford Powertrains, for sure, we support this change. You will find nobody comfortable with changing so late for next year and that’s why we have so many discussions.
“But certainly, we are happy to step out of that comfort zone for the benefit of the sport and to get something in place for ’27.”
There’s a practical sting in there too: if fuel-flow is increased, you’re suddenly talking about bigger tanks for next year. The alternative that’s been floated is shorter races in 2027 to avoid forcing teams into major packaging disruption — a solution that would be very on-brand for modern F1: fix a performance problem by rewriting the event.
Steiner’s dig landed because it plays into a familiar caricature of Verstappen: relentlessly competitive, intolerant of compromise, happiest when the world conforms to his stopwatch. But it also ignores something Verstappen and Red Bull have been consistent on for years: the concern is not merely whether the car is quick, but whether the rules deliver racing that feels like F1. That’s not a point you need to agree with to acknowledge it’s different from whining because you’re losing.
Others have piled in too. Daniel Juncadella — one of Verstappen’s teammates at the Nürburgring 24 Hours for Verstappen Racing — backed Jos’s broad thrust, noting Verstappen “has warned everyone about the new regs since 2023” and taking a swipe at Steiner’s standing in the argument. When a fan suggested Juncadella was “fighting ghosts” on Verstappen’s behalf because he’s “literally on the payroll”, Juncadella couldn’t resist a final nudge: “Very rude of you to call GS a ghost.”
Strip away the social media sniping and this is what’s really happening: the 2026 regulations are not just a technical shift, they’re a trust test. Drivers want to feel the cars make sense at the limit. Teams want stability to justify investment. Manufacturers want the hybrid story told their way. The FIA wants racing that looks and sounds like a step forward, not a compromise marketed as innovation.
In that environment, a throwaway line about Verstappen being “really happy” if he were winning isn’t just banter — it’s a statement about motives. And the Verstappens, as ever, don’t take kindly to having theirs questioned in public.
