Red Bull F1: Max Verstappen in private jet summit with bosses after Chinese Grand Prix disaster

Max Verstappen, Laurent Mekies, Red Bull, China, 2026 — Photo: © IMAGO

Chinese Grand Prix

Max Verstappen in private jet summit with Red Bull bosses after Chinese Grand Prix disaster

Verstappen was at his breaking point in Shanghai

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Monday 16 March 2026 17:54

Max Verstappen was seen boarding his private jet with Red Bull F1 management after a disastrous Chinese Grand Prix weekend culminating in his retirement from the race.

Alarmingly off the pace throughout the race weekend in Shanghai, Verstappen's Sunday went from bad to worse when he dropped to the back of the field on the race start. The Dutchman only managed to recover into the points before retiring due to cooling issues with the ERS (Energy Recovery System).

Verstappen was spotted leaving Shanghai and boarding his private jet, but eyebrows were raised further when he was followed by Red Bull's top management.

Article continues under video

A video shared on social media by a fan, saw Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies join Verstappen, alongside technical director Pierre Wache and head of racing/ the Dutchman's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.

While it's impossible to know exactly what took place behind closed doors, you'd expect that the disastrous consequences of Sunday's race were high on the agenda between the Red Bull team members.

How did Verstappen react to Chinese GP disaster?

In his post-race interviews at the Chinese GP, Verstappen once again ripped into the new rules and told the media: "It's terrible. If someone likes this, then you really don't know what racing is like. Not fun at all. Playing Mario Kart. This is not racing.

"Boosting past, then you run out of battery, the next straight they boost past you again. For me, it's just a joke."

"It's just Kimi [Antonelli] or George [Russell] winning, right? It's not really back-and-forth. They're miles ahead of the field. It's just that Ferrari sometimes has these good starts, then they push themselves in front, and then it takes a few laps to sort it all out.

"But yeah, like I said, this has nothing to do with racing - and I would say the same if I would be winning races. Because I care about the racing product. It's not about being upset with where I am."

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F1 Red Bull Max Verstappen Chinese Grand Prix Laurent Mekies Gianpiero Lambiase