Three races into the 2026 Formula 1 season, Red Bull Racing looks almost unrecognisable. The team that steamrolled the competition for four consecutive years sits sixth in the constructors standings with just 16 points, and Max Verstappen has yet to stand on a podium. But McLaren CEO Zak Brown is not buying the narrative that the Milton Keynes outfit is done. In fact, he thinks anyone writing off Red Bull right now is making a serious mistake.
A Giant Stumbles Out of the Blocks
The 2026 regulations have rewritten the Formula 1 rulebook in dramatic fashion, introducing sweeping aerodynamic and power unit changes that have reshuffled the grid in ways few predicted. For most of the last half-decade, Red Bull set the pace and everyone else chased. Now, the four-time consecutive constructors champions find themselves buried in the midfield, scrambling to find answers that have so far proven elusive.
Verstappen, a three-time world champion and the benchmark of the modern F1 era, has expressed clear frustration with the performance of his car through the opening rounds. For a driver and a team accustomed to fighting for victories on any circuit and in any conditions, the step backwards has been jarring. Sixteen points from three rounds is a tally that would have been unthinkable even twelve months ago.
Brown Sees a Different Story Ahead
Zak Brown has been here long enough to know that first impressions in a new regulatory era rarely tell the full story. The McLaren CEO, whose own team has emerged as one of the early frontrunners under the new rules, cautioned the paddock against assuming Red Bull's early struggles are permanent. He believes the competitive order will converge significantly as the season develops and teams unlock more performance from their 2026 packages.
Brown's warning carries genuine weight. It is easy to look at Red Bull's current position and project that forward across an entire season, but Formula 1 history is littered with examples of well-resourced teams suffering early in a new cycle before finding their footing. The resources, infrastructure, and institutional knowledge that Red Bull has built over the past decade do not simply vanish because a regulation change has temporarily disrupted their rhythm.
Brown specifically highlighted Red Bull's track record of bouncing back from difficult periods, a point that is hard to argue against. The team navigated adversity during the transition into the hybrid era, rebuilt after losing key technical figures, and consistently demonstrated an ability to develop their car faster than almost anyone else across a season. Underestimating that capacity now would, in Brown's view, be a mistake rivals make at their own peril.
The Weight of Recent History
Context matters enormously here. Red Bull's dominance between 2021 and 2024 was unlike anything Formula 1 had seen since the Mercedes era of the late 2010s. The 2023 season in particular was historically dominant, with Verstappen winning 19 of 22 races and the team claiming both championships by a margin that left the rest of the field looking helpless. That kind of sustained excellence is built on foundations that are not easily dismantled.
The new 2026 technical regulations represent one of the most significant regulatory overhauls in recent memory, touching aerodynamic philosophy and power unit architecture simultaneously. Any team can find themselves on the wrong side of such a shift, regardless of their recent pedigree. Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes have all experienced regulation-driven downturns and subsequent recoveries. Red Bull's current situation is unusual, but it is far from unprecedented in the broader arc of the sport.
What makes this moment particularly intriguing is the psychological dimension. Verstappen's public frustration signals that the team has not yet found the clear development direction they need, but it also signals a hunger to fix the problem fast. Red Bull are not a team that accepts mediocrity quietly, and that competitive instinct could prove to be their most important asset in the months ahead.
What It Means for the Championship Picture
For the teams currently enjoying the fruits of Red Bull's struggles, Brown's caution should serve as a useful reality check. A 16-point gap to the lead of the constructors standings may look comfortable today, but a strong development push from Red Bull over the summer could close that deficit rapidly. Championship leads built in the opening rounds of a new regulatory era have a habit of evaporating when the faster developers find their stride.
The coming flyaway races and the first major European development rounds will be telling. If Red Bull can begin introducing meaningful updates and translating them into lap time, Brown's warning will start to look prophetic. If the struggles persist through the midpoint of the season, the conversation will shift. But for now, the McLaren boss is urging caution, and in a sport where momentum can turn as quickly as a setup change, his perspective deserves respect.
Red Bull Racing may be in unfamiliar territory, but their story in 2026 is far from written. Zak Brown, speaking from the comfortable position of a team currently ahead in the standings, has chosen to respect the threat rather than dismiss it. That kind of measured, historically informed thinking is a reminder that in Formula 1, the teams that celebrate too early rarely celebrate last. The season has only just begun, and if Red Bull's track record means anything at all, the rest of the grid would be wise to keep looking in their mirrors.