Laurent Mekies has made Red Bull’s objective clear as the team works to give Max Verstappen a car capable of fighting consistently for Formula 1 victories again. Despite the considerable progress made with the RB22 during the first half of 2026, the Red Bull team principal insists that podium contention alone will not be enough.
Red Bull began the season significantly behind the leading teams, but the gap has been reduced dramatically as engineers have developed both the chassis and the new power unit. That recovery is particularly important as the team attempts to convince Max Verstappen that it can return to the level required to fight regularly at the front.
Laurent Mekies says Red Bull’s only target is winning
“We don’t sign up for anything other than winning races,” Laurent Mekies said. “Don’t count on me to say that we are satisfied, because we are not. We will not be satisfied until we go back to having a race car capable of winning on merit.”
Although victories have remained out of reach, Red Bull has made substantial progress since the difficult opening phase of the championship. Laurent Mekies highlighted the scale of that recovery and praised the work taking place throughout the organisation.
“I have to take the opportunity to say ‘well done’ to our people, chassis side, power unit side, because turning around from starting from 1.2 seconds adrift to finishing three tenths away halfway through the season, with this level of competition, is an extraordinary result.”
The improvement has helped Red Bull move considerably closer to Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes, although the development battle remains intense. McLaren in particular is continuing to push aggressively, with analysis suggesting the Woking team could pose an increasing threat to Red Bull in the 2026 development race.
Red Bull recovery built on chassis and power-unit progress
Laurent Mekies acknowledged that Red Bull understood why it had begun the season from such a difficult position. Part of the deficit was connected to the late development push during 2025, while the team also faced the challenge of introducing its new power-unit project.
“We know why we started there, when you put things in perspective with the late push of last year and with the power unit adventures,” Laurent Mekies explained.
Some of the lap-time improvement has come through visible upgrades to the RB22, but Laurent Mekies stressed that a considerable amount of progress has also resulted from less obvious work carried out behind the scenes.
“Our 2,000 people have been working to bring a little bit more to every single area. Some of them you never hear about, but they put us back in the position where we are now fighting every race for the podium.”
Red Bull still needs more to satisfy Max Verstappen
The progress is encouraging, but Red Bull’s ambitions go considerably beyond podium finishes. Max Verstappen remains the benchmark within the team, something his new team-mate has openly described as a major advantage, with Isack Hadjar calling the opportunity to measure himself against Max Verstappen a “luxury”.
Laurent Mekies has also been working to strengthen Red Bull across both sides of the garage. The improved contribution from the second car has been another important part of the team’s rebuilding process, with Isack Hadjar beginning to address Red Bull’s long-standing second-car weakness.
For Laurent Mekies, however, the ultimate measure of progress remains simple. Cutting the deficit from more than a second to around three tenths demonstrates that Red Bull is moving in the right direction, but the recovery will only be complete when Max Verstappen and the team once again have a car capable of winning Grands Prix on outright performance.
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