Verstappen flags Red Bull power unit failure after Hadjar beats him in British GP qualifying

Max Verstappen was left outside the top nine in British Grand Prix qualifying at Silverstone after revealing a suspected fault with Red Bull’s 2026 power unit, the DM01, robbed him of top speed on every straight. Rookie teammate Isack Hadjar outpaced him by one-and-a-half tenths in Q3 — the first time Verstappen has been beaten by a Red Bull teammate in that session since Sergio Perez did so at the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Verstappen had already signalled his frustration over the team radio during the session. “It’s getting worse and worse, it’s quite impressive,” he said sarcastically, before elaborating to Dutch media in the paddock.

“The balance in the car wasn’t good anyway, but it wasn’t good yesterday either,” he explained. “The difference today was that we had no top speed on my side of the garage. Simply no top speed on any of the straights. That naturally means you use more battery as well because you’re at full throttle for longer, and then by the final sector it becomes a complete disaster.”

The problem created a vicious cycle. With the internal combustion element underperforming, Verstappen was forced to lean more heavily on MGU-K deployment to compensate. Spending longer at full throttle also reduced energy recovery, leaving him with virtually no electrical power by the time he exited Stowe on each run — costing him significant time through the final sector.

“The engine just isn’t working,” he said. “It doesn’t pull like it normally does. As a driver, you can feel that. And because of that, we’re simply too slow on every straight.”

Verstappen confirmed he had exhausted every available option to work around the deficit. “I literally tried everything during qualifying, but it doesn’t make any difference in terms of top speed. You might be a bit quicker on one straight, but then you’re slower on another. Overall, you’re still simply way too slow.”

What made the situation harder to diagnose was that the issue had not been present during the sprint race earlier in the weekend, leaving Verstappen unable to pinpoint when or why it emerged. Red Bull is now investigating whether a power unit change will be required before the main race, a decision that could carry grid-penalty implications depending on the component involved.