Max Verstappen ally claims bad Red Bull start has triggered F1 champion's fury

Teameigenaar Ward hengelt naar Verstappen: "Gaaf dat hij in onze speeltuin komt" — Photo: © IMAGO

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen ally claims bad Red Bull start has triggered F1 champion's fury

Max Verstappen has had a poor start to 2026

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Thursday 19 March 2026 22:55

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An ally of four-time world champion Max Verstappen has suggested that his criticisms of the 2026 rules are down to his poor start to the season.

Verstappen has picked up just eight points from the first two grand prix weekends of the 2026 season, following a DNF at the Chinese Grand Prix and a sixth-place finish in Australia.

Before having to retire his car in China due to an ERS issue, Verstappen was running way down the order and had been lapped, detailing the struggles that he is having with his new RB22.

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Red Bull's new era of power unit production has not got off to a good start, with reliability issues affecting Verstappen in China, and his team-mate Isack Hadjar having to retire from the Australian GP too.

The team have produced their own power units for the first ever time this year, timed with the wholesale regulation changes that have swept into the sport, tripling the emphasis on electrical energy, making battery management crucial for the drivers.

And Verstappen has not been a fan of these new rules, describing them as a 'joke' following the Chinese GP, while also suggesting that it's like playing Mario Kart.

Now, his brother-in-law Nelson Piquet Jr, who previously raced in F1 between 2008-2009, has hinted that Verstappen would not be so critical of the 2026 regulations if he were in one of the dominant Mercedes cars.

"Ah, but that’s Max for you," Piquet Jr told the Pelas Pistas podcast. "Max wants to have the best car, doesn’t he?

"If you asked Max, which one was more exciting, the year you won the championship in the final race, or the one you won with five races to spare? No, the one with five races to spare. He wants, he wants every single race, doesn’t he?

"So, yeah, it’s natural for him to speak ill of it. If he were in the Mercedes car, he’d be quiet as a mouse, not saying a word. You can be absolutely certain of that."

Verstappen overreacting to new rules?

Verstappen's rival Toto Wolff said a similar thing to Piquet Jr during the Chinese GP weekend, suggesting that if Red Bull had mastered the new rules, Verstappen would not be so critical of F1's new era.

Former Haas F1 boss Guenther Steiner was also critical of Verstappen's response to the regulation changes, saying that he likes 'to throw his toys out of the pram'.

Verstappen even seemed to confirm it himself, saying it was 'fair enough' that the drivers who are competing at the front of the F1 grid were being so complimentary about the new rules, with Lewis Hamilton recently describing it as 'the best racing I’ve ever experienced in F1'.

It remains to be seen whether or not Verstappen and Red Bull can claw themselves back into contention for podiums as the year progresses, and whether that would improve Verstappen's mood.