Red Bull Racing team principal Laurent Mekies has admitted that his team’s late push to fight with McLaren in the latter stages of 2025 has directly hindered Red Bull’s start to this season.
He conceded the team has been unable to match the pace of rivals Mercedes and Ferrari in 2026, now sitting in sixth in the F1 standings – a stark difference to their usual dominance.
“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,” said Mekies on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast.
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“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.
Max Verstappen admitted that he may walk away from the sport at the end of the season. NurPhoto via Getty Images
“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.
“The car was not performing at the level they were hoping. The pressure was high. You come to the middle of the season and you get a new boss.
“With the new regulations coming for 2026, with the new power unit projects, there were all the reasons in the world to say, ‘well, you know what? Let’s turn the page, 2025 did not work. Let’s concentrate on 2026’.
“You would have been mad to do anything differently, to want to do things differently. The truth is, nobody wanted to do that in Milton Keynes.
Red Bull mechanics on the grid at the United States Grand Prix. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
“Nobody wanted to turn the page. They all wanted to get to the bottom of that ’25 car, get to the bottom of what didn’t work, and turn things around.
“And yes, they knew there would be a price to pay later, but that’s how deep is the fighting spirit in the team.
“They all put the extra effort to try to understand what was limiting us, try to bring upgrades and solutions to cure the issues we had, taking a huge amount of risk in doing so.”
Drivers have been blunt on the feelings in the Red Bull camp, with Isack Hadjar admitting, “It’s not good…but everyone’s got their heads down to understand what’s going on. Hopefully the next version of the car really makes an effect. That’s it.”
Verstappen has been the most vocal on his feelings driving in 2026, with his team only picking up 16 points in three races.
Calling the season “anti-racing”, “not fun” and “Formula E on steroids”, Verstappen has actively spoken about retiring if things don’t start to look up.
Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing and Isack Hadjar of France and Oracle Red Bull Racing. Formula 1 via Getty Images
But Red Bull has emphasised that they actively put themselves in this situation for 2026 to prioritise Verstappen’s championship hopes.
Losing by only two points to world champion Lando Norris last year, Verstappen would be well worth giving back to his team for their prioritisation, not quitting half way through the rebuild.
“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,” Mekies said further.
“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.”