“It’s Out of My Hands” – Verstappen Says It All About Red Bull’s Engine Problem
· Yahoo Sports
Max Verstappen‘s comments following the Belgian Grand Prix to Sky Sports this weekend were brief, but they carried the full weight of a season that has gone sideways in ways nobody at Red Bull anticipated when they launched the DM01 power unit back in January.
Asked about his weekend, Verstappen was balanced. “…for me, it’s been quite a straightforward weekend. Nothing too crazy. The race pace was all right, still struggling a little bit with balance – a little balance problems to go faster in the race – but yeah, in general, the weekend was nice. So I think that that is also a positive.”
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The Engine Question He Couldn’t Dodge
Sky Sports pressed him on the broader picture – specifically the uncomfortable reality that Ferrari and Mercedes are both receiving upgrade opportunities under the FIA’s Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities system, while Red Bull, rated as the benchmark manufacturer with the strongest internal combustion engine on the grid, gets nothing. Every other manufacturer on the grid has been handed development tokens. Red Bull sits at the top of the ICE rankings per the FIA’s official assessment, and that distinction has cost them any chance of in-season improvement.
Verstappen’s response was as loaded as it sounds: “I mean, I would also love an engine upgrade,” he said cheekily. “Yeah, it’s out of my hands.”
Then came the kicker. When Sky Sports asked whether the power unit – supposedly the class of the field – is actually what it’s claimed to be, Verstappen didn’t reach for diplomacy. “Yeah, I mean, meant to be, but when you look at qualifying, it doesn’t really look like it, does it? So I don’t know what to say.”
The numbers behind that frustration are interesting. Under the ADUO rules, Mercedes – rated more than 2% behind Red Bull’s unit – receives one upgrade this season. Ferrari, Honda, and Audi, each assessed as more than 4% adrift, each receive two. Red Bull receives zero. Team principal Laurent Mekies has estimated Mercedes holds a three-tenths-per-lap advantage over Red Bull, a significant portion of which he attributes to the power unit itself. Ferrari’s ADUO upgrade, introduced at the Austrian Grand Prix, appeared to deliver its full benefit at Silverstone, where Charles Leclerc took the win and Red Bull found themselves spectating from outside the podium fight.
Sky Sports F1 reporter Craig Slater has already flagged that the FIA ruling left Red Bull “stunned,” and openly raised whether it could accelerate Verstappen’s exit from the sport. That’s not an idle question. Verstappen has made no secret of his frustration with F1’s 2026 regulations – he called them “anti-racing” earlier this year and floated retirement as a genuine option if the formula didn’t change. F1 has since agreed to shift the ICE-to-electrical power ratio in the coming years.
For now, the engine war rolls on without him in it. Red Bull holds the FIA’s top rating, can’t develop further under current rules, and is watching rivals widen the gap one upgrade token at a time.