Verstappen camp hears ‘good things’ about Red Bull–Ford, but refuses to call a 2026 favourite
Max Verstappen’s inner circle is keeping a lid on the hype. As Red Bull’s Ford-badged power unit takes shape for F1’s 2026 reset, his long-time manager Raymond Vermeulen says the feedback is positive — just not yet meaningful.
“What’s the reference for next year? Nobody knows,” Vermeulen told RacingNews365’s Dutch edition. “We hear good things about the engine, but what is good? I don’t know… let’s wait and see.”
That’s the recurring thread at Red Bull right now: cautious optimism. The team is about to enter 2026 with a clean-sheet car and its first in-house power unit, built at Red Bull Ford Powertrains in Milton Keynes. It’s the logical end point of a journey that began when Honda signalled its exit after 2021, prompting Red Bull to stand up its own engine operation to run Honda tech through 2025. Honda, of course, has since aligned with Aston Martin for the new rules.
Inside Red Bull’s engine campus, there’s a quiet confidence. Technical director Ben Hodgkinson recently hosted Verstappen for a tour, and the champion got a first earful of the ‘26 PU on the dyno. “I think he was impressed with where we were,” Hodgkinson said. “We were able to show him just how much hardware is going through our build shops and on our dynos. He was able to see some running engines doing laps… hear what the ‘26 power unit would sound like. I guess he’ll be hearing that just behind his head for quite a number of hours.”
Engine noise and facility scale won’t win titles, though. Rate of response might. Vermeulen made that point plain: in a rules break as wide as 2026, it could be less about who nails round one and more about who can correct quickly if they miss.
“I think the decisive point will be which team is able to turn it around as quickly as possible if you’re not high in the pecking order,” he said. “How to reshuffle the office back in the factory and get new parts on the car to have a quick car. Let’s see how that pans out. But it’s the same for everyone — that’s the good part.”
Read between the lines and it’s a pragmatic playbook. Red Bull know what a fast start feels like; they also know how momentum can shift if you hesitate. With brand-new power unit architecture, altered energy deployment and fresh aero targets, there will be blind spots. The first flyaway races should be a truth serum for everyone.
There’s another layer here: Verstappen’s future. He’s contracted beyond 2026, and Red Bull chief Oliver Mintzlaff has been bullish in public about keeping the four-time World Champion on board. But performance clauses are part of modern F1 life. Vermeulen didn’t stoke that fire; instead he pointed to a driver fully engaged after an “epic” 2025 campaign that demanded a comeback.
“For the moment, we are absolutely happy,” Vermeulen said. “I think we had a hell of a season. We have a very challenging year ahead. Max is still young, still eager and still very quick. So, all to play for.”
If there’s any insight to take from Red Bull’s engine bosses, it’s that the operation has grown up fast. “This is an exceptional facility put together by a group of really exceptional people,” Hodgkinson added. “The level of detail we go into on every single element is absolutely vital if we’re going to get where we aspire to be on the grid and on the podium.”
The grid will have its say soon enough. For now, Verstappen’s camp isn’t declaring a favourite, and that tells you plenty. Red Bull’s Ford era starts with a sensible dose of humility — and the understanding that in 2026, the real superpower might be agility.
