Red Bull handed brutal verdict after 'basic problems' onslaught

Former Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley has delivered a brutal verdict on Red Bull, insisting the team has suffered from too many "basic problems" so far this season and awarding it a mid-season rating of just five out of 10.

Red Bull entered the new power unit regulations as a full power unit manufacturer for the first time in its history, with everything being produced in-house alongside technical support from Ford.

As expected, things have not all gone according to plan for the Milton Keynes-based outfit, particularly on the reliability front.

Both Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar have suffered retirements in 2026 as a result of component failures, with the Dutchman having been particularly vocal.

The four-time world champion has twice crashed or spun as a result of a sudden rear-wing failure, resulting in the temporary removal of the upside-down version.

When the car has run reliably, Verstappen has challenged for and secured podiums, although a win continues to elude both him and the Austrian outfit.

In Smedley's eyes, Red Bull should be performing considerably better and has suffered too many issues, resulting in a harsh mid-season rating.

"Red Bull should be just doing so much better," Smedley said on the High Performance Racing podcast. 

"Like, they've had too many basic problems, like Max says, there's a different problem every weekend or something like that. 

"I know he was a little bit emotional about it, but there is physically something different that pops out every weekend, and it's always critical. It's not something like a contained reliability or operational problem. 

"It's always something quite big, so I think Red Bull should be doing so much better, and because of that, I'm going to give him a five."