Mekies sees Red Bull fighting for podiums but remains cautious about wins

Whether Red Bull can now win everywhere remains an open question. The caveat is clear: consistently matching Mercedes is difficult. After the team’s first grand prix win of 2026, Laurent Mekies is upbeat about its chances of reproducing that form elsewhere, while stressing that no team has been able to challenge Mercedes for wins consistently.

Red Bull’s progress has come in stages. At the start of the campaign, the team was more than a second behind the frontrunners. A sustained run of upgrades gradually reduced the deficit. The latest package, introduced in Azerbaijan, gave Max Verstappen a chance to win on a circuit that is typically difficult for Red Bull; he ultimately finished just behind race winner George Russell.

At the very different Sepang circuit in Malaysia, Verstappen then dominated in the RB22. Starting from pole, he turned that advantage into a win in a delayed race held in mixed weather in Kuala Lumpur. Mekies said the pecking order in Malaysia had surprised him. He also pointed to extreme heat, a rough surface and the circuit layout as factors that may have disrupted the cars, while allowing that the conditions could have affected the competitive order.

The team principal expects Red Bull to remain in the podium fight in the coming races. He said the team had already been in contention for several events, which he put at “six, seven, eight”. He was less certain about challenging for wins repeatedly: Mercedes has been difficult to match consistently, while McLaren and Ferrari have each had competitive spells.

Red Bull is the fourth team to have won races in 2026, alongside Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren. Ferrari and McLaren’s competitiveness, however, has varied with circuit layouts and conditions. Looking ahead, Mekies believes Singapore could suit his team because of its performance in slow corners, but said he could not predict what its rivals would do. Red Bull will therefore keep trying to extract more from its car, without claiming that one win guarantees competitiveness at every circuit.