Red Bull Racing CEO and Team Principal Laurent Mekies has warned the team against complacency following its first podium of the year at the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix.
Red Bull’s turnaround in performance continued in Canada, as Max Verstappen secured third place, marking its first visit to the podium in 2026.
The team had introduced substantial upgrade to overhaul its RB22 in Miami, which bore fruit in Montreal on race day as Verstappen duelled with Hamilton for most of the afternoon.
Mekies confirmed that the gap to Mercedes had closed compared to Miami.
“Big picture, I see at the very least we confirm the Miami steps,” he said to media, including Motorsport Week.
“We’ve done a bit more than the Miami step in the way that we have managed to take a little bit of performance away from the top guys.
“Just looking at the lap time now, it was three-tenths in qualifying, but [on Sunday] we were a bit closer than the half a second deficit that we had in Miami.”
Red Bull chasing Mercedes deficit
Mekies however has warned against complacency, despite Red Bull taking, what looked outwardly as a step forward.
“In Miami we finished 40 seconds from the win. It was a bit closer here now.
“There is probably no reason to get too excited in a way that you could also have a track layout effect, a track that could be forgiving for certain aspects of the car.
“But at the very least, again, we confirm Miami, the guys managed to get something more.”
“If you consider that the competition had another flow of updates this weekend, it’s just confirming that we are going in the right direction with the development,” he said.
As the European season get s underway, Red Bull will look to cement itself as a podium contender once again. Based on its performance in Canada, it is knocking on the door of its goal, but remains a long way behind pacesetter Mercedes.
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