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Max Verstappen recently explained that he felt 2026 was not entirely a fresh start for F1 teams despite the huge rule changes.
Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies has agreed with Max Verstappen’s claim that F1’s new era in 2026 is not entirely a fresh start despite the rule changes.
For next season, the single-biggest overhaul to F1’s technical regulations is set to come into force, with changes to both the engine and chassis side, including the introduction of active aerodynamics.
Given the scale of the change, it was believed that there would be limited, if any, carry-over from this season to next, but Verstappen believed that there were still learnings for his Red Bull team to take in the closing races of the ground effect rules, something his team boss has agreed with. 
“I think, as you say, there are many things we can take to 2026,” Mekies responded to media, including RacingNews365, when Verstappen’s comments were put to him. 
“It is a clean sheet from the point of view of designing a car and obviously designing a PU, but it remains the fact that you will use the same people, you will use the same methodology, the same process, the same tools to go and design that car. 
“I think we didn’t hide the fact that it was very important for us to try to unlock what we felt was in the car in that project under the current regulations, to sort of leave 2025 understanding that we are comfortable with where our tools’ limitations are, what we understand, what we don’t understand, and therefore design a better 2026 car as a result. 
“You pay a little bit of time spent on 2026 cars, but you go into it with a bit more confidence in your own methodologies and tools. Yes, there are many areas where you will be able to transfer knowledge. 
“Tyres is one, even if the tyres are changing. But more generally, in how you develop the car, where your correlations happen, where they don’t, and all the various sensitivities.”
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