Mekies dissects Red Bull’s difficult 2026 start after late development call

The Milton Keynes-based outfit’s team principal, who appeared on the recent edition of the Beyond the Grid podcast, admitted the team is indeed paying the price for its aggressive late development in 2025, but noted that this was necessary before turning the page to the 2026 car.

“We thought, and we still think, it was the right thing to do because turning the page to 2026 would have been a bit of an easy escape, a kind of wishful thinking that next year would be better, even though we didn’t fully understand the limitations of the 2025 car. We didn’t think that was the right approach,” Mekies explained.

Admitting the impact such a decision has had on the team through the first three races of 2026, he continued:

Mekies, however, signalled confidence that the Red Bull outfit is well-equipped to overcome its tempestuous start to the current racing campaign, noting the team’s track record of overcoming adversity.

“We’re not happy with the starting point, but we believe we’ll get through these difficulties. As we did last year, we’ll gain a full understanding of the limitations. This team has been very, very good at turning things around, and we have another opportunity to do that this year,” he concluded.

The Red Bull Racing outfit indeed turned the corner with the RB21 car in 2025, with Verstappen racking up 10 podium finishes, including six race victories in the second half of the campaign. However, the team’s start to the current campaign has been far from a mirror performance of what was shown at the tail end of 2025, with its best race result still the sixth place achieved by Verstappen in Australia so far.

Earlier, Mekies expressed confidence about the Red Bull outfit returning to the front of the grid at the Miami Grand Prix.

The 48-year-old detailed how the team will shift focus to effectively optimise performance on its 2026 car.

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