Due to the development of the new power unit, Verstappen does not have a hard time sleeping – F1sport.cz

Max Verstappen has a contract with Red Bull until 2028. If he keeps it, he will be behind the wheel of Red Bull even when new power units come to F1.

When there was speculation about Verstappen’s departure from Red Bull and his move to Mercedes, it looked like complete nonsense at first glance. Red Bull dominates, Mercedes struggles.

But new power units will arrive in 2026. Honda will remain in F1, but will switch to Aston Martin. Red Bull will be powered by its own powertrain, which is being developed in collaboration with Ford by Red Bull Powertrains (RBPT). Will it be on par with the powertrains of experienced rivals?

There is occasional speculation that development is behind schedule and not going as well as Red Bull would have imagined. But Verstappen leaves it alone.

“If I had to speculate on everything… I might be worried if I’d still be alive tomorrow, wouldn’t I?” said Verstappen, as quoted by Motorsport.com. “I don’t worry about it.”

“Obviously I’m in close contact with Christian and the people who work there on this matter. Everyone is working full time so there is no need to panic about it. It’s still not 2026.”

At the end of last year, Horner admitted that there was a certain amount of concern in Milton Keynes, not because of the delay, but because of the scale of the project.

“I think people may not understand the scale of the challenge we’ve taken on for 2026,” Horner said at the time. “But the way the team approaches it is exactly the same as the car. We are on the right track. There are some great people involved and we have a great culture.”

Verstappen echoed Horner’s view and emphasized the team’s enthusiasm for his project.

“We know it’s a very big task, we don’t take it lightly. Since there are a lot of established engine manufacturers, we don’t think it will be easy to beat them either. But we have a lot of good people working on the project and we’re very excited about it. Of course, time will tell how it turns out.”