A Team in Transition

The sweeping regulation changes introduced for 2026 were always going to reshape Formula 1's competitive order — and Red Bull have found themselves among the primary casualties. After challenging for the drivers' title right until the final rounds of 2025, the Milton Keynes squad now sits fourth in the Constructors' Championship, grappling with reliability gremlins, balance issues, and swirling speculation over Max Verstappen's long-term future.

Yet amid the struggles, there have been flashes of the old Red Bull — glimpses that suggest the team that dominated the early part of this decade is not gone for good.

Verstappen's Patient Wait for the Podium

For a driver who grew accustomed to the top step of the podium during his run of four consecutive Drivers' Championships, 2026 has required a different kind of mental fortitude. Verstappen had to wait until the fifth round of the season just to reach the rostrum — a stark contrast to the years when victories felt like a guarantee.

The Dutchman has since amassed four podium finishes, with his best results a pair of P2s in Austria and Hungary. The Austrian Grand Prix, in particular, offered his most genuine shot at victory. Starting fifth after a crash in qualifying, Verstappen carved his way through the field, dispatching Kimi Antonelli, Charles Leclerc, and Lewis Hamilton in the early stages to surge into second. He closed to within 1.611 seconds of race winner George Russell before Red Bull's strategy left him with too much ground to recover.

The result was described as "extremely positive" — a tangible sign that the team's development programme and gradual upgrades were starting to bear fruit, and a crucial message to Verstappen that a return to winning ways may be closer than it appears.

The Rear Wing Saga: Red Bull's Biggest Headache

If one component has come to symbolise Red Bull's troubled 2026 campaign, it is the innovative rotating rear wing. Developed in the wake of Ferrari's successful 'Macarena' wing, Red Bull's version was intended to help close the gap to their competitors. Instead, it became a recurring source of frustration.

The first failure came during the dying moments of qualifying in Austria, when the wing malfunctioned on a flying lap, sending Verstappen's RB22 across the gravel and into the barriers. A similar incident saw him spin out of the British Grand Prix, costing him a likely podium finish. The way the rear wing closed under load eventually came under intense scrutiny within the team.

After a thorough review, Red Bull elected to revert to a previous design for the Belgian Grand Prix, with plans to continue testing the updated version behind the scenes and potentially reintroduce it later in the season.

Hadjar Stepping Up Amid the Storm

While the spotlight has inevitably focused on Verstappen's struggles, sophomore driver Isack Hadjar has quietly been making a case for himself. The Frenchman trails his team mate 8-3 in both qualifying and race head-to-heads, but those numbers don't tell the full story.

The three races where Hadjar has finished ahead of Verstappen all coincided with the Dutchman's retirements — an ERS issue in China, a failure to get off the line in Monaco, and the rear wing fault at Silverstone. Hadjar impressed immediately by qualifying third at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, and he beat Verstappen over one lap at the British GP. He currently sits eighth in the Drivers' Championship with 68 points from 11 rounds, while Verstappen occupies sixth with 109.

Verstappen, remarkably, has yet to claim a single pole position this season — a statistic that speaks volumes about the team's one-lap struggles despite front-row starts in Miami, Monaco, and Belgium.

The Bigger Picture: Retaining Verstappen

Beyond the technical challenges, Red Bull's most pressing concern is ensuring Verstappen honours the contract that runs to the end of 2028. The departures of key figures — including Adrian Newey, Helmut Marko, and Gianpiero Lambiase — have already weakened the foundations of the team that once seemed unshakeable. Losing Verstappen would be a blow of an entirely different magnitude.

The path to keeping him is straightforward in principle: demonstrate tangible progress in fixing the balance problems, the track-to-track inconsistency, and the downshift issues that Verstappen has been so vocal about. While Mercedes may be too far ahead to catch this season, closing the gap to McLaren and Ferrari would go a long way toward convincing their star driver that the project remains on an upward trajectory.

Rebuilding Phase: Time Is Not on Their Side

Team Principal Laurent Mekies has been candid about the fact that Red Bull are in a rebuilding phase — a process that inherently takes time, which is the one commodity in short supply during a 23-race season.

On paper, the ingredients for a resurgence are all present: a supremely talented number one driver, a promising sophomore finding his feet, an experienced team boss, and a flourishing power unit partnership with Ford. The challenge is assembling those pieces quickly enough to salvage something meaningful from 2026 — and convincing Verstappen that brighter days lie ahead.

With 12 rounds remaining, the clock is ticking. But if the Austrian Grand Prix proved anything, it is that this Red Bull team, even in its current diminished state, should never be entirely counted out.