Plenty to chew on today in F1: Red Bull’s 2026 gamble, Ferrari’s ride-height reset, and a war on keyboard warriors — with a couple of spicy quotes to close.
First up, Red Bull’s power unit project. Juan Pablo Montoya reckons the team could spring a “surprise” when the 2026 engines land, a pointed counter to Christian Horner’s recent claim that it would be “embarrassing” for rivals if Red Bull nailed it at the first try. With Red Bull Powertrains building its first works unit in collaboration with Ford, Montoya’s view is simple: write them off at your peril. Bold talk either way, but if there’s one outfit that has a habit of making big pivots look routine, it’s the one in Milton Keynes.
Over at Ferrari, Fred Vasseur has finally said the quiet part out loud about ride heights. After Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification in China for excessive skid-block wear, the team raised its 2025 car to stay on the safe side. Vasseur admitted Ferrari “lost our way a bit” in the early going with “quality issues” and execution on weekends. It’s the kind of reset you make when margins are razor-thin and the penalty for overstepping is brutal — as Hamilton found out.
The FIA, meanwhile, is moving from slogans to subpoenas. In an interview with PlanetF1.com, Erin Bourke detailed how the governing body’s United Against Online Abuse initiative — launched in 2023 — is closing in on its first prosecution after two years of research and methodical awareness work. Motorsport’s social feeds have spent too long as a free-for-all; the FIA wants to change the tone with actual consequences.
Back to Maranello, where Vasseur didn’t just talk hardware. He suggested Hamilton “sometimes exaggerates the problems he sees,” adding that the seven-time champion’s more “extreme” public reactions can make things “worse.” It follows a flat Hungarian weekend where Hamilton sounded unusually downbeat about his and the team’s prospects. Every relationship has its teething phase — and this one, new for 2025 with Hamilton replacing Carlos Sainz at Ferrari, was never going to be quiet.
And if that wasn’t lively enough, former Ferrari driver Arturo Merzario has dismissed Hamilton’s switch as largely a “commercial operation,” claiming most of the workforce at Maranello didn’t want it. That’ll ruffle feathers. Whether you buy it or not, it’s a reminder that Ferrari decisions live under a bigger, brighter spotlight than anywhere else.
So, to tally it up: Red Bull talks big about 2026 and gets a nod from Montoya, Ferrari tightens up after a costly DSQ and fields some internal truths, the FIA sharpens its tools against online abuse, and the Hamilton-Ferrari narrative keeps throwing curveballs. Business as usual, then — just a little louder than yesterday.
