Red Bull takes defiant stance after Max Verstappen F1 complaints

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has "zero concern" about Max Verstappen losing interest in F1 after the Dutchman's forthright criticisms of the championship's new regulations.

The four-time F1 drivers' champion has been particularly outspoken about the new power units, branding the new rules "anti-racing" and claiming cars were like "Formula E on steroids."

Despite this, the 28-year-old has since quashed speculation he could walk away from the series at the end of the 2026 season, and Mekies is not worried about his star driver becoming demotivated, having maintained he must be having fun racing in F1.

During the first day of the season pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit, the Frenchman was asked by media, including RacingNews365, if he was fearful of Verstappen losing interest.

"The short answer is: no," the 48-year-old promptly responded. "Zero concern about that."

When Verstappen's comments about preferring not to drive the 2026 car in the simulator last season, as Red Bull was developing the RB22, were put to Mekies, he dispelled any suggestion that the Milton Keynes-based squad had been starved of the 71-time grand prix winner's technical feedback.

"Yes, I do recall our conversation last year when he was switching from one car model to another car model, '25 to '26 in the sim," he said.

"And yes, the difference was so big that at some stage, I think rightly so, he decided to focus on the '25 approach."

He added: "But the reality is that the challenges of these regulations are massive. They are massive for the teams, are massive for the power unit manufacturers, and massive for the drivers as well.

"So it is different for all of us, but that's also what we love — to try to break through these challenges, to try to find solutions that we felt were not on the table, and that's what we will do with Max's help."

Because of Verstappen's capacity behind the wheel and ability, Mekies backed him to master the complexities of the new regulations, which place a premium on complicated energy management, something the driver has been particularly unhappy about.

"I'm quite confident that, as it will turn out, he will most likely become the best at mastering these regulations, and technicalities and tricks, as much as he was in the previous set of regulations," he said.