Red Bull will keep fighting for podiums, but Laurent Mekies believes Mercedes will remain the favourites to rack up wins in Formula 1 this season.
Verstappen took the chequered flag at Sepang on Sunday, marking the Milton-Keynes-based team’s first win as a works outfit in 2026.
Red Bull came into F1’s latest era with its own power unit programme with Ford, and while it has been a success of sorts, the RB22 hasn’t always been the most compliant of machines underneath the 29-year-old or his team-mate Isack Hadjar.
But registering its first win has been a significant vindication, Mekies believes. It confirms the “positive trend” the team has been on since the summer break, extracting incremental pace from its overall package.
“We were surprised by the pecking order in Malaysia,” he told media including Motorsport Week after the Bahrain GP in Malaysia.
“On one side, it’s confirming the positive trend now with Monza, with Madrid, with Baku. We have been adding a little bit of performance at every race, which is great.”
The Frenchman conceded, however, that its track and “other factors” probably were more in favour of its inherent car characteristics than those of most of its rivals.
“On the other side, are there other factors that have influenced what we have seen in Malaysia?” he surmised.
“Possibly, with the extreme heat and the track roughness and the layout of the track, I’m sure most of the cars out there were out of their ideal operating window. Did that affect the picking order? It’s possible.”
Mercedes “will always be in the fight for the win” admits Red Bull despite Sepang triumph
Verstappen’s first victory of the season may be a sign that Red Bull have gotten on top of its gremlins.
That said, Mekies is of the strong opinion that Mercedes are still the benchmark with their power unit and chassis combination.
While Red Bull may be operating at a higher level now, to consistently challenge the German marque for wins would be a stretch for the team.
Rather, Mekies insisted that the team could now be a podium contender at least for the remainder of the 2026 season.
“Does it change anything in the way we approach the next races? Not really,” he added.
“We will try to adapt as best as we can next, and we’ll see. We still think that Singapore will hopefully suit us in terms of slow-speed corner performance.
“What the competition will do is very, very difficult to understand. I think we will be in the fight for the podium for the coming races, because fundamentally we have been in the fight for the podium for a number of races now: six, seven, eight. So, I think we’ll be in that fight.
“Will we be in the fight for the win? I think Mercedes has always been in the fight for the win. We have seen that it’s been very difficult to be consistently on par with Mercedes for everyone at all the races.”
Heading into the Singapore GP weekend, Verstappen would be eager to set another record straight by winning his first-ever race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
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