Laurent Mekies reveals why Red Bull is struggling after 2025 development gamble. Laurent Mekies explains how the intense 2025 title fight has impacted the RB22’s performance.

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has pointed to the intense late push in the 2025 Formula 1 championship as a key factor behind the team’s current lack of competitiveness with the RB22.

A Red Bull stuck in the midfield

As the paddock reaches the summer break, every team principal faces one crucial question: “How do we allocate resources between the current season and the next one?” The answer often depends heavily on how the championship is unfolding.

For instance, during the 2025 Formula 1 season, McLaren quickly abandoned development of the MCL39 after securing the Constructors’ Championship, while the Drivers’ title appeared to be an internal battle between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. It only seemed that way, however, because Red Bull kept pushing development right until the final race, making a remarkable comeback with Max Verstappen.

In the end, the Dutch driver narrowly missed out on a historic achievement by just two points against the papaya team. That late-season charge, however, inevitably came at a cost for Red Bull.

The Milton Keynes-based outfit has struggled at the start of this new generation of cars and, contrary to expectations, is now lacking in areas that were once its greatest strengths: chassis performance and aerodynamic efficiency. This step backwards has been directly linked by team principal Laurent Mekies to the immense effort invested only a few months ago.

Mekies explains the situation

“The car was not performing at the level we wanted, the pressure was high and a new team principal arrived midway through the year: there were all the reasons in the world to focus exclusively on 2026, especially with a new generation of cars coming,” the Frenchman explained.

“But none of us wanted to give up. Everyone wanted to understand the root of our problems and turn the situation around. Of course, we knew we would pay a price, but this team has a deep fighting spirit.”

“It was an easy decision to keep focusing on 2025. I had just arrived, yes, but no one wanted to surrender. We took a huge risk, but we believed – and we still believe – that it was the right choice: focusing only on 2026 would have been the easy way out,” he continued.

“It certainly had an impact on 2026 and we are paying part of that price now. But that is not an excuse. We are not happy with where we are, but we will overcome these difficulties just as we did last year.”