Verstappen frustrated
Max Verstappen finished eighth in Japan and publicly flagged Red Bull's competitiveness concerns, while team figure Laurent Mekies said Red Bull expects a faster car starting in Miami. Social chatter has already spun the moment into memes and even offbeat talk about V8 GT3 swaps. ( )
Laurent Mekies told Sky Sports the team will use the forthcoming race break to “simulate back what we see in the data into the tunnel, into our simulator” and run sensitivity studies — work he said is needed before on-track gains can be judged. (skysports.com (skysports.com)) Red Bull sit outside the top three in the Constructors’ table on 16 points after three rounds, while Mercedes lead the standings on roughly 135 points and McLaren sit on about 56 points, leaving Red Bull a wide deficit to close. (racingnews365.com (racingnews365.com)) (formula1.com (formula1.com)) Multiple outlets reported Verstappen describing himself as “beyond frustrated” in Suzuka qualifying and telling BBC Radio 5 Live he is reassessing whether racing under the new regulations is “worth it,” comments that have been carried in Reuters and Motorsport coverage. (motorsport.com (motorsport.com)) (thestar.com.my / Reuters piece (thestar.com.my)) Mekies has repeatedly emphasised that Red Bull’s new RB Powertrains package — the team’s first in-house power unit developed with Ford support — is a developing project and warned the squad would face “very tough months” as the engine and car mature. (pitdebrief.com (pitdebrief.com)) Suzuka’s official classification shows Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar finished 12th and scored no points at Japan, while Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson took ninth — results that compounded Red Bull Racing’s constructors tally after the weekend. (formula1.com (formula1.com)) Formula 1’s official calendar puts the next on-track action at the Miami Grand Prix weekend on May 1–3, 2026, and the FIA’s cancellation notices for the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds left teams with an extended gap in April to develop parts off the track. (formula1.com (formula1.com)) (formula1.com cancellation notice (formula1.com))
