The McLaren CEO believes that Red Bull will soon be able to bounce back, highlighting that the team still possesses an enormous amount of talent and has all the ingredients needed to return to the front of Formula 1.
McLaren refuses to underestimate Red Bull
From the group of four teams that were regularly fighting for podium positions in 2025, Red Bull has clearly fallen behind. The Milton Keynes-based outfit has not started the new regulatory cycle well, with its car suffering from significant chassis-related issues.
At present, the team appears to be closer to the midfield pack than to the front-running contenders. This lack of competitiveness has also contributed to Max Verstappen’s growing frustration with the new regulations, although team principal Laurent Mekies has repeatedly expressed confidence in the team’s ability to recover ground.
However, even their rivals are not ready to write them off. McLaren CEO Zak Brown, who managed to overtake Red Bull in 2025, believes the team will soon become competitive again and is looking forward to renewed battles with Max Verstappen.
Brown’s words
“It would be really stupid to write off Red Bull, the other teams will improve quickly. We know how fast this sport can change,” said Brown.
“They need to do a bit of a reset in a sense. They’ve lost a lot of people, like Christian Horner, Jonathan Wheatley, Gianpiero Lambiase, Adrian Newey. Since I’ve been here, most of their pit wall staff has changed,” he added.
“I have a lot of respect for Laurent, I think he is doing a great job. He is technically competent, he is young, and he has to rebuild the team by replacing the people they have lost. I have no doubt he will succeed: just like McLaren did, I think Red Bull has immense talent that simply needs to be unleashed.”
“They were dominant until very recently, so the team clearly has a lot of ability. Laurent just needs to redirect it.”
Zak Brown’s assessment of Red Bull therefore highlights the volatile nature of Formula 1 performance and the cyclical challenges of team leadership. While the loss of foundational figures like Newey and Horner has clearly disrupted the team’s momentum, Brown recognizes that the underlying technical DNA of a championship-winning organization doesn’t vanish overnight. By drawing a parallel to McLaren’s own journey back to the top, he suggests that under Laurent Mekies’ guidance, Red Bull’s current technical hurdles are merely a temporary setback. As the 2026 season progresses, the F1 paddock remains on high alert for a resurgence from Milton Keynes, proving that in this sport, respect for a former champion is never truly lost.
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