Red Bull Racing CEO and Laurent Mekies has confirmed it is working hard behind the scenes to improve its fortunes following a tough start to the 2026 Formula 1 season.
Red Bull has endured a challenging start to 2026, the RB22 proving to be difficult car to manage in F1’s new rules era.
Suffering from a lack of speed and grunt from its power unit, the team is a distant sixth in the standings after three rounds, tied with Alpine on 16 points.
The season took a further negative turn in Japan, with Max Verstappen eliminated in Q2, a far cry from his performances since 2022 as one of the sport’s benchmarks.
Mekies, refectling on the decision to develop the 2025 RB21 late into last season, stands by his decision.
“We thought and we still think it was the right thing to do, because we felt that turning the page to ‘26 would have been a little bit of an easy escape and a wishful thinking that next year will be better, even though we didn’t fully understand what were the limitations of 2025,” he said to the Beyond the Grid podcast.
“We didn’t think it was the right way. Now, of course, the time and energy we invested for the late push last year, does it have an impact on where you start ’26? Of course it does.
“Of course, we pay a bit of the price today. Do we use it as an excuse? No.
“We are not happy with the starting point. But we think we will get through these difficulties. As we did last year, we will get the full understanding of the limitations.
“And this team has been very, very good in turning things around and we have another chance to do it this year.”
“Attack Mode” from Red Bull despite challenges
Although on the back foot, Mekies confirmed the team is pushing, as it grapples with the RB22 and its inaugural power unit, offering insight into morale at Red Bull.
While Mekies could use last year’s late development push, as well as the first year of Red Bull running their own power units, as an excuse to label 2026 a “transition year” the Frenchman instead insisted the team were still in “attack mode.”
“We try to do everything we can to make sure this is not a transition year, despite the size of the challenge, despite the new power unit challenge,” he said.
“We want to make sure that we are not in a transition year. No. We are not at all in that mode. We are in full attack mode.
“As we said, not happy about the starting point. But if you walk in Milton Keynes right now, there is fire in every single department.
“There is a burning fire of wanting to go back as fast as possible to a more competitive car, to a better position.
“And that’s what you feel in Milton Keynes today, is that burning drive to get enough understanding and development to the car, in a way that we can outperform the development of the competition and get back up.”
Red Bull is not used to Q2 eliminations or being cut adrift from a title fight due to poor performance. Mekies’ remarks, although timely, do not indicate that it is on top of its pace woes as yet. Miami will likely prove challenging.
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