Where's Max Verstappen? How Red Bull have snuffed out their brightest star

Verstappen in Barcelona — Photo: © IMAGO

Max Verstappen

Where's Max Verstappen? How Red Bull have snuffed out their brightest star

On the absence of Max Verstappen

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Tuesday 16 June 2026 18:56

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Does anyone know where Max Verstappen's gone? 5 ft 11. Dutch. Likes drinking a G&T and driving at the Nurburgring (not together).

He used to be everywhere. Snatching an eighth world title from Lewis Hamilton. Winning every race for about a year. Even when he wasn't supposed to be in a title fight, he was like: 'Hey McLaren! I know you've got the best car, but I'm still pretty fast. So, how about I challenge you for the title? Okay?'

If there's a championship battle in the past five years, Verstappen's a part of it. It doesn't matter if Red Bull have the worst car, his talent manages to shine through and steer him to victory in a way no other driver could.

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That's not the case in 2026. And we all know it's not suddenly because Verstappen has become a midfield driver. Nor can we blame the new regulations, because even Verstappen wouldn't drive poorly to spite Stefano Domenicali + the Machine.

There was a mirage of the Verstappen we all love in Monaco, rocketing to P2 in qualifying and a serious contender for the win...until his car just went 'nah' on the race start.

Put simply Red Bull had the brightest star on the grid. Now, their car design has snuffed that light out.

Bring back Verstappen! When do we want him? Now!

Caveated by Monaco and Miami, Verstappen has been a rather anonymous character this year, while Mercedes and Ferrari have stolen the headlines. And surely it's better for one's performance to be covert rather than openly flailing at the back of the grid like Aston Martin, right?

But arguably there's a tragedy to watching Max Verstappen bimble through the midfield, when he should be at the front wiping the smile off George Russell's face.

Because imagine building the most powerful engine on the grid - on your first try - and the chassis is so terrible it negates any kind of benefit from the power unit.

Which is where Red Bull currently find themselves. Beleaguered by weight, balance, grip, [insert F1 terminology here] issues. Anonymous. Nowhere. A footnote in a race report.

Does anyone actually know where Verstappen finished in Barcelona? Does anyone actually care enough to flick open a tab on their phone and find out?* No one is looking at Max Verstappen. The best driver on the grid! And that's a travesty for Formula 1.

Verstappen's post-race interview confirmed just how far Red Bull have sunk in 2026, saying it was: "Pretty lonely to be honest for me the whole race. There was not so much going on – I was mainly just following the battle ahead on the screens, because for me we were just too slow.

“On every [tyre] compound we couldn’t follow, so every stint we lost a few seconds. A little bit tough, but on the other hand also [it’s] pretty much how the whole weekend was, I guess. On every compound I’m just lacking a little bit, so we tried to do our best.

“I think strategy-wise we did a good job – it was the winning strategy, so we cannot complain about that. We just need to work harder and try to improve the car.”

You don't want a four-time champion of Verstappen's calibre talking like that. It's just depressing.

* = Verstappen finished P4 in Barcelona, for anyone who was interested.

F1 RESULTS: Lewis Hamilton claims record win at Barcelona Grand Prix

F1 Red Bull Max Verstappen Barcelona-Catalunya Grand prix