Max Verstappen is only focused on what Red Bull are doing ahead of the 2026 Formula One season after "diversion tactics" from Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.

With the new campaign starting on March 8 in Australia, teams are currently getting used to the new rules and regulations in their testing session in Bahrain this week.

The new engine regulations have already made plenty of headlines, with Verstappen criticising the rules and Lewis Hamilton calling them "ridiculously complex", while Mercedes' interpretations of the guidelines have been called into question by other teams.

Verstappen came second in the Drivers' Championship last season, finishing two points behind McLaren's Lando Norris, but was called the "benchmark" by Wolff for how he has adapted to the new car and power unit combinations.

The four-time world champion, however, believes Wolff was just looking to take attention off his own team with the comments.

"I mean, let's look back at the last 10 years of winter testing, I don't think you can say who is the world champion on day one," Verstappen said.

Max's week is complete 

MV3 completed 61 laps in the morning session #F1 || #F1Testing  pic.twitter.com/4DOloLWTPg

— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) February 13, 2026

"Especially with a new ruleset like this. For me personally, it's more like diversion tactics. But that's okay. I mean, I focus on what we're doing here with the team.

"Because honestly, for us, there's still so much to learn. This new ruleset is so complex that we just want to do our laps and just go from there, to be honest.

"And it's normal, of course, that other people are hiding and trying to probably make us look really good.

"At the same time, we don't care. We just focus on ourselves. We just try to do the best we can. But yeah, I'm happy, of course, with how everything started.

"But there's still such a massive room for improvement at the same time as well. Because of how complicated everything is."