It feels wrong to look past the upcoming 2025 Formula 1 season given how exciting the last campaign was.
Max Verstappen came out on top despite Red Bull losing their competitive advantage and it looks like the grid could converge even more this season.
The likes of McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes will all fancy their chances in the Constructors’ Championship against Red Bull, but there’s another pressing matter looming on the horizon.
In 2026, Formula 1 will undergo one of the biggest changes in its sporting regulations in its history.
The 2026 F1 regulations will see the cars become lighter, new power units installed and moveable front and rear wings.
While the past few years have seen engineers and designers evolving their cars rather than completely overthrowing their previous work, next year’s car will need to be completely different.
However, teams were only made to start properly working on next season’s vehicles at the beginning of January, meaning manufacturers now have to decide how to balance their resources between their 2025 and 2026 cars.
Journalists Edd Straw and Scott Mitchell-Malm were speaking on The Race Podcast about why Verstappen’s presence at Red Bull might make balancing their development much more difficult.
Max Verstappen’s precarious F1 future makes Red Bull’s car development more difficult
Talking about when Red Bull may change their development plans for next year, Straw said: “I do wonder with Red Bull as well, coming back to what Jon [Noble] was quite rightly saying about teams, if they’re struggling early in the year, they will switch full focus to 2026.
“Red Bull’s the one I do wonder about. Let’s say they don’t start in a brilliant position.
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“Are they going to be so worried about the prospect of losing Max Verstappen that they need to kind of show him in 2025 that they can make gains with the car, otherwise he’s just going to walk away.
“That could twist the decision-making process a little bit there.”
Mitchell-Malm then raised another concern Red Bull are facing and added: “They’re the biggest engine question mark as well for 2026, so they might feel that they need to make sure that they leave no stone unturned on the car side.”
Red Bull facing one of their biggest changes in Formula 1 in 2026
Verstappen doesn’t want to race in F1 forever and while an immediate retirement from the sport doesn’t appear to be on the cards, he won’t be happy racing in the midfield if Red Bull fail to progress as expected.
It’s been suggested that Verstappen could emulate how Rosberg retired from F1 and simply walk away at the end of a season if he achieves another championship.
Red Bull also have to help Liam Lawson adapt to life within the team after a winter promotion from Racing Bulls.
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He’ll need to quickly prove he’s a better option than Sergio Perez who clung onto his seat for as long as possible.
The elephant in the room is the introduction of Red Bull Powertrains to the equation when Honda move on to exclusively supply Aston Martin with engines from 2026.
Martin Brundle has been impressed by the Red Bull Powertrains project, but the proof will be in how fast the team’s car is next year, and if their first effort at producing their engine doesn’t go to plan, then Verstappen may decide he needs to take inspiration from Lewis Hamilton and move on for the good of his career.
