Red Bull heads into its home Austrian Grand Prix with modest expectations regarding the upgrade package set to debut this weekend. Team principal Laurent Mekies has openly expressed doubts about the immediate impact of the developments, stressing that they are unlikely to be enough to challenge Mercedes and Ferrari for victory.
The 2026 Formula 1 season has been defined by significant performance swings as teams introduce major upgrades throughout the campaign. According to Mekies, these fluctuations have become one of the defining characteristics of the championship battle.
“The story of this season is made up of these performance variations based on who brings their upgrades,” Mekies explained.
Ferrari recently demonstrated just how powerful a major development package can be. Lewis Hamilton capitalized on a series of important upgrades in key areas of the SF-26 to secure victory in Catalunya last weekend, giving the Scuderia renewed momentum in the fight at the front.
Meanwhile, Red Bull finds itself in a different situation. The team is widely regarded as having the strongest internal combustion engine in Formula 1 this season, a result that reportedly surprised even those within the organization. However, with no additional power unit development tokens available, further gains cannot come from the engine side. As a result, all future progress must be extracted from chassis and aerodynamic improvements.
Mekies discusses Red Bull’s Austrian upgrade package
Mekies went on to explain the work that has gone into the team’s latest developments and the expectations surrounding them.
“Ferrari made a big step forward this weekend. Obviously, our next major upgrade is for the Austrian Grand Prix, but it is only worth the actual lap time it delivers on track,” he said
He continued: “Everyone at Red Bull has worked incredibly hard on this package, and there is no doubt that the Austrian package alone will not be enough. We know that we will need additional steps after this.”
Despite the cautious outlook, the team principal highlighted what he believes is a positive trend in Red Bull’s recent development trajectory: “What is important is that, on this continuous path of reducing the gap that we have been following since Japan, we keep getting closer. We are no longer talking about four tenths, and hopefully the deficit is even smaller now.”
Track performance and Mekies’ assessment
Max Verstappen finished fourth in Barcelona, a result helped by the late retirements of Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc. The Dutch driver spent much of the race running alone, more than 15 seconds behind the McLarens ahead and comfortably clear of the cars behind him. Even so, Mekies rejected the suggestion that Red Bull currently finds itself trapped in a no-man’s-land between the frontrunners and the midfield.
“I wouldn’t say we are in no-man’s-land,” he stated. “We are part of the top four group and we are fighting. On some types of circuits we can compete for the podium, while on others we cannot. We could fight for a podium in Canada and Monaco, but here we could not, and that is fair to say.”
He concluded: “That said, before the drama in the final laps, I think we could have beaten one Ferrari and one McLaren, and today that was the maximum we could achieve.”
These comments underline how Red Bull remains part of Formula 1’s leading group while acknowledging the challenges it faces on certain circuits. The team continues to chase Ferrari and Mercedes, knowing that further development will be required to close the remaining gap.
With the 2026 cars still in the early stages of their lifecycle under Formula 1’s new technical regulations, there remains considerable room for improvement. The Austrian Grand Prix could therefore provide an important indication of whether Red Bull’s latest upgrades are enough to move the team closer to the front of the field in the months ahead.
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