Red Bull F1 star 'under pressure' as key staff split over 2026 crisis

Red Bull F1 team picture with Pierre Wache, Laurent Mekies, Helmut Marko and Gianpiero Lambiase sat among team members — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News

Red Bull F1 star 'under pressure' as key staff split over 2026 crisis

Red Bull's woes could mean the end for one star

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Wednesday 8 April 2026 09:12

Red Bull have made a miserable start to the 2026 F1 season, and that could put one of the team's key figures very much on the hotseat.

It is no secret that four-time champion Max Verstappen is at odds over whether to call time on his own career in the sport due to his sheer dislike of the new regulations.

Before the first campaign of the new regulations cycle had even begun, Verstappen made headlines claiming that the sport had now become like 'Formula E on steroids,' and it didn't take long for him to double down on that view after the first competitive round.

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Verstappen's struggle hasn't been helped by the fact that the team who helped him fight for the title right down to the wire last season have now been unable to provide him with a car capable of fighting for a qualifying spot in the top 10, let alone race wins.

Wache under threat at Red Bull?

As the 2026 championship begins a five-week long enforced break, rumours are now coming out of Red Bull that the man behind the RB22 car's design could be at risk of being on the chopping block, with the technical staff allegedly split over the direction taken under the leadership of Pierre Wache.

A recent report from GPblog stated: "As technical director, Wache is ultimately responsible for Red Bull’s chassis. His future with the Austrians grows murkier by the day after once again producing a car that simply isn’t good enough."

"Wache must slowly begin to fear for his job, mainly because there is internal disagreement within Red Bull about the working methods and the direction taken."

GPFans have contacted Red Bull for comment.

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Wache the successor to Adrian Newey

Wache has been a key member of the energy drink giant's F1 effort since 2013, when he joined the Milton Keynes-based squad as Chief Engineer- Performance Engineering.

In 2018, the Frenchman took up the role of Technical Director as part of a restructuring within the F1 outfit, working alongside design genius Adrian Newey.

So, when Newey made the shock announcement that he would be leaving Red Bull in 2024, Wache was his obvious successor.

But the overhaul of the sport's chassis and power unit regulations were the first real test of Wache's ability at the head of Red Bull's F1 project, given the 2026 challenger was the first time he would be working on a car that hadn't been initially designed by Newey.

Though the Brit had already stepped away from the day-to-day running of the technical side of Red Bull when the RB21 was designed, it still drew inspiration from Newey's previous work such as the dominant RB19.

After just three races at the wheel of the Wache's RB22, Verstappen is clearly unhappy with the package.

Verstappen pushing for chassis change

Verstappen's boss, team principal Laurent Mekies, is attempting to display a united front and give a show of optimism as talk of an early retirement for his star driver continues to spread.

The Red Bull team principal has insisted that he and Verstappen are not discussing his retirement, instead focusing on improving the car so that the Dutchman no longer feels the need to throw in the towel.

But could the answer to Red Bull's car problems be another reshuffle of the technical team?

Verstappen himself certainly didn't speak highly of Wache's chassis, maintaining that he doesn't feel there is an issue with the team's new power unit, indicating that the blame might be laid at Wache's door.

“I think our energy recovery system is working fine. Sure, we could improve on correlation and calibration, but power isn’t our major weakness - even if we aren’t as dominant as Mercedes in that area," Verstappen said.

Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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Red Bull 2026 regulations Pierre Wache