The start of the 2026 Formula 1 season has reshuffled the competitive order, with Mercedes firmly back in the role of the dominant benchmark, similar to the early hybrid era, while Red Bull has been forced into a challenging chase.
Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies has analysed the difficult situation facing his squad, admitting that the current struggles are the direct consequence of a deliberate strategic decision made during the previous season.
The performance gap on track is significant, but Mekies believes the team’s DNA still holds the strength needed to turn things around. The first major step will come with the Miami upgrade package, already tested during a filming day at Silverstone. Improving the RB22 is crucial, especially given the surprisingly solid foundation provided by the power unit developed in Milton Keynes.
The gap to Mercedes and the development race
The numbers from the opening rounds of 2026 leave little room for optimism in the short term. Laurent Mekies confirmed that the gap to the front is substantial.
“We believe the gap to Mercedes is very significant,” he admitted on the Beyond the Grid podcast. “It is probably around one second per lap, which is huge in Formula 1.”
Despite this performance deficit, the French manager insisted that the car will undergo a deep transformation over the course of the season.
“You will see the car change a lot throughout the season, not only in Miami but also in the races that follow. Success or failure will depend on how quickly we bring development and how effective those upgrades are.”
Laurent Mekies also emphasised that in this new regulatory era there are no guarantees.
“It is not a given that every step we take will improve performance. The outcome of this development race will determine what position we can realistically fight for.”
This sentiment has become a common theme among all Formula 1 team leaders during the first year of the new technical regulations.
The 2025 gamble: “We are paying the price for not giving up”
The discussion then shifted to the reasons behind Red Bull’s slow start. Laurent Mekies admitted that the team is paying the price for pushing development of the 2025 car until the very end of the season, rather than abandoning it early to fully focus on the new project.
This decision nearly delivered a fifth Drivers’ Championship for Max Verstappen.
“It was an easy choice because nobody wanted to give up,” said Laurent Mekies. “We thought, and we still think, it was the right thing to do, because turning the page to ’26 would have been too easy an escape. It would have been a simple wish to hope that the following year would be better without fully understanding the limitations of the 2025 car.”
However, that commitment came with a cost in terms of reaction speed to the new regulations.
“Did the time and energy invested in the final push of last year impact how we started 2026? Absolutely. So of course we are paying a price for it now. But we are not using it as an excuse.”
Laurent Mekies also stressed that the Milton Keynes organisation is built on resilience.
“We are not satisfied with where we started, but we will overcome these difficulties. As we did last year, we will fully understand the limitations. This team has been excellent at turning situations around, and we have another opportunity to do exactly that again this year.”
Power unit challenge and Helmut Marko’s legacy
Beyond chassis development, Red Bull is also facing the massive challenge of its own power unit project in collaboration with Ford.
Mekies recalled his reaction when the project was first announced, back when he was still at Ferrari.
“We looked at each other and said: ‘Wow, how hard must it be to start from zero?’ We were already working on the next generation, but we had an established department. They had to build everything from scratch.”
The comparison with traditional rivals is stark.
“Even though now only we and Ferrari have both the power unit and chassis in the same organisation, the projects are completely different. One has been doing it for 90 years, we have been doing it for 90 days. Maybe not exactly 90 days, but three years of work and not even 90 days of racing – that’s how different and difficult it is.”
Finally, Mekies paid tribute to Helmut Marko, who despite his reduced presence at race weekends remains a key figure within the organisation.
“Helmut has remained very open and available to us. We still receive his advice even if you don’t always see him at the track,” Laurent Mekies said.
“You don’t just turn the page on Helmut Marko quickly. He built this junior driver programme over two decades with incredible success. We are living off his legacy right now, and he is always just around the corner if we need him.”
Red Bull’s 2026 campaign remains a work in progress, caught between the ambition of a future as an independent manufacturer and the weight of a glorious past they weren’t ready to leave behind. As the team brings its first major updates to the Miami International Autodrome, the focus will be on whether the RB22 can begin to bridge that one-second chasm to the front of the grid.
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