{"id":487142,"date":"2025-10-10T01:49:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T01:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/487142\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T01:49:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T01:49:10","slug":"verstappen-admits-mercedes-likely-to-lead-under-2026-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/487142\/","title":{"rendered":"Verstappen admits Mercedes likely to lead under 2026 rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"date\">OCTOBER  9, 2025<\/p>\n<p>Max Verstappen says he expects Mercedes to have the upper hand when Formula 1&#8217;s all-new regulations arrive next year.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandprix.com\/display\/photo?photo_caption=Max+Verstappen%2C+Singapore+GP+2025&amp;photo_copyright=%C2%A9+Red+Bull&amp;photo_url=https%3A%2F%2Fphotos.grandprix.com%2Fjpeg%2Fraces%2Fpsin25%2Ffri%2Fred%2Fverstappen19-lg.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/verstappen19-rd.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Max Verstappen, Singapore GP 2025<br \/>\u00a9 Red Bull<\/p>\n<p>Although Toto Wolff was known to have made a strong approach to lure the four-time world champion, Verstappen ultimately chose to stay at Red Bull despite Christian Horner&#8217;s departure and the uncertainty around the team&#8217;s in-house power unit project.<\/p>\n<p>Next year won&#8217;t be easy with our own engine, of course, Verstappen told Sky Deutschland. That&#8217;s a new risk for Red Bull, but they also took that risk by entering Formula 1, and they didn&#8217;t do a bad job.<\/p>\n<p>He refrained from dismissing suggestions that Mercedes could again dominate as it did in 2014 when new hybrid rules first came in.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s difficult to say, Verstappen added. I do believe Mercedes will be at the front. They&#8217;re always there and always strong. They&#8217;re a top company. So I do believe they&#8217;ll be at the front, especially when it comes to the engine.<\/p>\n<p>Still, he insisted Red Bull is fully committed to the challenge. We&#8217;re definitely giving it our all. I hope we&#8217;re close, but of course I don&#8217;t know.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking separately to Viaplay over the Singapore GP weekend, Verstappen was asked about Red Bull&#8217;s sudden performance surge following Horner&#8217;s exit and Laurent Mekies&#8217; arrival.<\/p>\n<p>Asked whether something specific had changed, he smiled: Yes. But nobody needs to know that.<\/p>\n<p>When the interviewer apologised for pushing further, Verstappen replied: Yeah, that&#8217;s fine. It doesn&#8217;t matter, because I&#8217;m not going to say anything. The important thing is that we perform better.<\/p>\n<p>Although no longer entirely out of the championship fight, Verstappen concedes a fifth straight drivers&#8217; crown is unlikely.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m not that worried about it, he said. I already have a lot of things on my mind, which I also enjoy. I just show up at the circuit and do my best. Maybe there&#8217;s a chance. I&#8217;m trying to make the most of it, but I&#8217;m not worried about it.<\/p>\n<p>(GMM)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OCTOBER 9, 2025 Max Verstappen says he expects Mercedes to have the upper hand when Formula 1&#8217;s all-new&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[11794,47794,47820,47846,47833,47787,9896,47827,2528,199,38152,47802,47806,346,1395,47811,47841,47832,4199,47785,47839,47790,6319,997,4347,707,7182,4200,47805,14658,47829,22596,47788,47783,47843,18716,47798,47844,47855,23468,2190,47822,35063,47782,47784,47797,2122,47812,47799,32332,14656,47793,47835,47804,47789,47816,43313,47824,47814,998,47817,47801,47858,1055,47845,24319,1710,5909,47851,37029,47831,35033,47819,16102,47857,1072,47836,47808,12646,47791,47823,47809,47826,47847,1071,47786,226,37992,47796,47815,47828,47807,47856,47821,4858,14764,47818,24207,47803,47852,47853,2143,47854,79,47849,47850,47837,47800,47848,2186,47810,461,16,15,47840,4201,47830,47792,47795,47813,4857,47838,47834,47842,47825],"class_list":{"0":"post-487142","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-abu-dhabi","9":"tag-adrian-sutil","10":"tag-albers","11":"tag-alesi","12":"tag-ammermuller","13":"tag-autoracing","14":"tag-autos","15":"tag-badoer","16":"tag-bahrain","17":"tag-barcelona","18":"tag-benetton","19":"tag-bruno-senna","20":"tag-button","21":"tag-cars","22":"tag-china","23":"tag-david-coulthard","24":"tag-davidson","25":"tag-doornbos","26":"tag-f1","27":"tag-f1-racing","28":"tag-fauzy","29":"tag-felipe-massa","30":"tag-fernando-alonso","31":"tag-ferrari","32":"tag-fia","33":"tag-formula-1","34":"tag-formula-one","35":"tag-formula1","36":"tag-giancarlo-fisichella","37":"tag-gilles-villeneuve","38":"tag-glock","39":"tag-grand-prix","40":"tag-grandprix","41":"tag-grandprix-com","42":"tag-hakkinen","43":"tag-hamilton","44":"tag-heikki-kovalainen","45":"tag-hill","46":"tag-hockenheim","47":"tag-honda","48":"tag-hungary","49":"tag-ide","50":"tag-indianapolis","51":"tag-inside-f1","52":"tag-insidef1-com","53":"tag-jaime-alguesuari","54":"tag-japan","55":"tag-jaques-villeneuve","56":"tag-jarno-trulli","57":"tag-jenson-button","58":"tag-juan-pablo-montoya","59":"tag-kamui-kobayashi","60":"tag-karthikeyan","61":"tag-karun-chandhok","62":"tag-kimi-raikkonen","63":"tag-klien","64":"tag-korea","65":"tag-kovalainen","66":"tag-kubica","67":"tag-lewis-hamilton","68":"tag-liuzzi","69":"tag-lucas-di-grassi","70":"tag-magny-cours","71":"tag-malaysia","72":"tag-mansell","73":"tag-mark-webber","74":"tag-mclaren","75":"tag-michael-schumacher","76":"tag-minardi","77":"tag-monaco","78":"tag-montagny","79":"tag-monte-carlo","80":"tag-monteiro","81":"tag-montreal","82":"tag-monza","83":"tag-motorsport","84":"tag-nakajima","85":"tag-nick-heidfeld","86":"tag-nico-hulkenberg","87":"tag-nico-rosberg","88":"tag-paffett","89":"tag-pedro-de-la-rosa","90":"tag-piquet","91":"tag-prost","92":"tag-racing","93":"tag-racingcars","94":"tag-red-bull","95":"tag-renault","96":"tag-robert-kubica","97":"tag-rosberg","98":"tag-rossiter","99":"tag-rubens-barrichello","100":"tag-san-marino","101":"tag-sato","102":"tag-sauber","103":"tag-schumacher","104":"tag-scott-speed","105":"tag-sebastian-vettel","106":"tag-sebastien-buemi","107":"tag-senna","108":"tag-silverstone","109":"tag-singapore","110":"tag-spa","111":"tag-sports","112":"tag-spyker","113":"tag-super-aguri","114":"tag-sutil","115":"tag-timo-glock","116":"tag-toro-rosso","117":"tag-toyota","118":"tag-trulli","119":"tag-turkey","120":"tag-uk","121":"tag-united-kingdom","122":"tag-valles","123":"tag-verstappen","124":"tag-vettel","125":"tag-vitaly-petrov","126":"tag-vitantonio-liuzzi","127":"tag-webber","128":"tag-williams","129":"tag-winkelhock","130":"tag-wurz","131":"tag-yamamoto","132":"tag-zonta"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation 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