What we already know about Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar's new Red Bull

As Red Bull enters the second year of its third decade in F1, it is a team undergoing a radical metamorphosis, and the Red Bull of 2026 is going to look and feel very different from the one of 2025.

The team and its sister squad, Racing Bulls will become the first two to unveil their new 2026 liveries at a special launch event in Michigan on Friday morning European time, as part of Ford's global motorsport season launch. 

This is perhaps the single-biggest definitive change about the new Red Bull machine, the RB22, for Max Verstappen and his new team-mate Isack Hadjar.

For the first time, Red Bull is becoming a power unit manufacturer in its own right after running Honda units badged under the Red Bull Powertrains (RBPT) moniker in the ground effects era.

Providing technical support in a major coup is Ford, the Blue Oval being enticed back to grand prix racing, 21 years after it sold Jaguar to one D. Mateschitz, who promptly rebadged the team as... Red Bull.

This is perhaps the biggest unknown for Red Bull heading into the new season, with former team principal Christian Horner remarking that rivals Mercedes and Ferrari had nearly 70 years of experience each in developing racing engines, whilst RBPT was starting from scratch. 

Elsewhere, there is to be a major change to Verstappen's car. 

Finally dethroned as world champion by Lando Norris, the #1 sticker will no longer adorn the front of the Red Bull, instead making its way from Milton Keynes down the M1 and around the M25 to Woking and McLaren.

But Verstappen is not to run the #33 he last carried in the 2021 title-deciding Abu Dhabi GP when he ended Lewis Hamilton's reign. 

The Dutchman's favourite number has always been #3, but could not take that as his permanent number for his 2015 debut as Daniel Ricciardo had already taken it in 2014. 

Although Ricciardo was off the grid for 2025, Verstappen carried the #1 for his 2025 title success, meaning for 2026, he was set to revert to #33, with the #3 still Ricciardo's until the end of the 2026 season as per the rules.

But a late change to the regulations allowed drivers to change their permanent number for 2026, and with Ricciardo's blessing, Verstappen will carry the #3 in 2026. He is the first driver to change their permanent race number, not counting world champions who have run the #1.

The all-new Red Bull-Ford RB22 machine for Verstappen and Hadjar will be on-track, at the latest, during the behind-closed-doors private test in Barcelona at the end of January, although a filming day prior to this is possible for a first shakedown of the new machine. 

But with what livery will it be run?

Red Bull has been hinting all winter at a potential livery change, something Verstappen has long called for. Will he finally get his wish with the RB22?