Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies admitted the RB22 was still “not right” despite Max Verstappen producing an unlikely second-place finish at the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix. According to the Frenchman, only race winner Lando Norris was clearly faster than Max Verstappen on Sunday, but the podium did not disguise the car’s persistent handling and set-up problems.
It was a remarkable conclusion to an otherwise deeply troubling weekend for Red Bull. Max Verstappen reached the podium for the third time in four races, even though such a result had appeared almost impossible after the enormous difficulties encountered by the team on Friday and Saturday at the Hungaroring.
Max Verstappen rescues podium from difficult Red Bull weekend
Max Verstappen had directed severe criticism towards Red Bull during the weekend, with team-mate Isack Hadjar also expressing his frustration after the team appeared to make little progress with the RB22 in Hungary.
However, Max Verstappen’s ability and several favourable circumstances transformed Red Bull’s race on Sunday. Ferrari’s errors and Oscar Piastri’s retirement helped open the way, but the Dutch driver still had to capitalise on those opportunities to claim second place behind Lando Norris.
The result matched Max Verstappen’s runner-up finish in Austria one month earlier as his best race result of the season. It also placed him between Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli in the complete 2026 Hungarian GP classification.
Laurent Mekies admits Red Bull RB22 was not right
Speaking to journalists during the post-race press conference in Budapest, Laurent Mekies attempted to assess a weekend defined by the RB22’s sometimes unpredictable highs and lows. Despite the podium, the Red Bull team principal acknowledged that the car provided to Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar had been far from perfect.
“I don’t think [this weekend] we ever managed to give Max and Isack a car with which they could perform at their best,” Laurent Mekies said.
“If I think back to the drivers’ comments at Spa or in Austria, they probably said the car was more or less behaving as it should and allowing them to do what they wanted. That was never the case this weekend.”
The situation was particularly severe during practice and qualifying, when Red Bull struggled to place the RB22 inside a consistent operating window. Although its race performance improved, Laurent Mekies stressed that neither driver was entirely comfortable behind the wheel on Sunday.
“The situation was definitely worse on Friday and Saturday than it was in the race,” the Red Bull team principal added. “But I still have to admit that, even during the race, the car probably didn’t feel particularly good to the drivers.”
Only Lando Norris clearly faster than Max Verstappen
Despite those limitations, Laurent Mekies believes the timing data showed that Max Verstappen fully deserved his second-place finish. In the Red Bull team principal’s assessment, Lando Norris was the only driver with a clear pace advantage over the Dutchman during the race.
“It was difficult on track for everyone, and I think it is fair to say that on Sunday only Lando was clearly faster than Max, while the pace of everyone else was either matched or beaten,” Laurent Mekies explained.
Lando Norris converted McLaren’s performance into his first victory of the 2026 season and subsequently described the Hungarian Grand Prix as one of his best drives. Oscar Piastri’s retirement, however, ended McLaren’s hopes of securing a double podium at the Hungaroring.
For Red Bull, Max Verstappen’s pace provided encouragement because it suggested that further performance could be extracted from the existing package. At the same time, the team must understand why the RB22 remains so difficult to set up and keep within its optimum operating range.
“I imagine that is positive because it means we have room to improve the current package,” Laurent Mekies continued. “We will try to understand why we are so close to the limit in terms of set-up, performance and the car not operating at its best.”
“It has been hard work, certainly for the drivers but also for the team over these last few races, to keep the car inside its performance window.”
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