Max Verstappen has said that he will require "time to adjust" to Red Bull's new-look car, as he looks to take back his World Championship in 2026. The Dutchman saw hopes of a quintet of successive titles dashed at last year's Formula 1 finale in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as Lando Norris ruled the roost in the Drivers' Standings.

However, any hopes of Verstappen turning the tide in his favour this year could be hampered by the fact that Red Bull have made changes to the car he is so comfortable in. Ahead of 2026, RB have had to produce their own power units alongside Ford. And speaking about the tweaks at a launch event in Detroit, Verstappen explained that he may need time to adapt to his new motor.

He said: "It's all still a bit unknown. It's a very big change with the engine, the dimension of the car has changed. For the drivers, it will take a bit of time to adjust and that's why it's very important during the test days that we are getting our laps in."

Meanwhile, Red Bull team principal, Laurent Mekies, also admitted that there will be obstacles to over come with the new power unit. He added: "It's going to be the biggest change of regulations in Formula 1 history, but that was not enough.

"We decided to do our own power unit with our strategic partner Ford. It's a crazy challenge. It's going to be a year full of challenges. We are not naive. We know it is going to come with a certain amount of struggle. We know it is going to come with difficulties."

Elsewhere, Red Bull Ford powertrains technical director, Ben Hodgkinson, has explained that the work has been done to allow the team to compete to the best of their ability alongside other advancing organisations. He said: "I've been doing this for 27 years so everything I do has got to be backed up by the belief I can do it.

"I don't think you belong in this industry if you don't believe that. I also, it's almost part of my own personal ethos, but I think that if you show me a confident engineer I'll show you one that's about to lose.

"So you can never underestimate where everybody is. You always have to assume you're behind so that you always push the absolute maximum. What am I confident about? I'm confident that the team I've built is incredible. I'm confident the facilities we put together are going to be benchmark. But we're a newcomer.

"We had to build factories while people started developing engines so I think we started behind. But I think the people and the facilities we've got are better than everybody else. So watch this space. Will I overtake them by race one? I don't know. We'll have to wait and see."

F1 testing gets underway in Bahrain next month, before the first event of 2026 lands in the form of the Australian Grand Prix come March 8.