Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has put a loose timeframe on when it will pool its resources into its 2027 car, rather than continue the development of the current challenger.
F1 saw fresh technical regulations introduced this year with significant changes made to both the aerodynamic and power unit rules.
Having exited the sport’s previous era at the end of 2025 as title challengers, it has not been able to carry over that form as it is the only team inside the top four yet to win a race this year.
F1 teams currently operate under a budget cap, restricting how much they can spend per year on their operations.
It has left the Milton Keynes-based squad with a headache of choosing when to flip the switch and scale back the development of the 2026 car.
Having developed last year’s car right up to the end of the campaign as it sought to defeat McLaren in the title fight, Mekies is not expecting a simila rpush this time around.
“I don’t know for the other guys, what is sure is that at some stage we’ll need to make a call on the balance between this year and next year,” Mekies told media including RacingNews365.
“I expect that to happen earlier than what we have done last year. Especially as the regulations are now what they are. So we will decide.”
Red Bull currently sit fourth in the constructors’ championship with the opening half of the campaign in the books.
Like many of its fellow competitors, it has carried out a major push to add developments to the current car, but Mekies is not expecting that pace to remain stable.
“But as far as we are concerned, we have brought a huge amount of development to the car between race one and here, in order to try to correct as soon as possible, the large deficit we had initially,” he said.
“It’s probably difficult to imagine that we will continue at that rhythm, but we nonetheless need to see what is the best way to try and close these last few tenths.”