Red Bull is used to fighting at the front in Formula 1, having mastered the ground effects era to claim consecutive world titles and previously dominating from 2010 to 2013. Now, the Milton Keynes team is coming to terms with a harsh new reality as it lags behind the frontrunners in F1’s new era.
“There is nothing to be happy about today,” remarked team boss Laurent Mekies on Sunday after the Japanese Grand Prix, which saw drivers Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar finish eighth and 12th respectively.
Red Bull has struggled in 2026, when F1 rolled out new regulations bringing smaller, lighter cars to the grid and mandating for a near-50:50 split between internal combustion and electric power in the hybrid engines – a switch that has not gone down well with Verstappen.
So far, the season has been dominated by Mercedes, with its drivers winning in Australia, China and Japan. In contrast, Red Bull has so far managed a best finish of sixth for Verstappen in Melbourne and eighth for Hadjar in Shanghai.
“We are a distant force, that’s the reality,” Mekies told reporters. “We left Melbourne thinking that we were one second off Mercedes and half a second off, I guess. The biggest difference in Melbourne was that McLaren looked in reach there.
“Then, we see that gap largely increasing in China. And you have seen us starting to scratch [our] heads there about car balance and car characteristics. And then here [in Japan], it also didn’t look good at all on Friday, Saturday.
“It looked not too dissimilar to the Melbourne pictures in terms of one second to the best guy, half a second to the best Ferrari. But now, McLaren is at that same level.”
Laurent Mekies, Red Bull Racing Team Principal
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images
An underlying lack of performance
Red Bull had been projected to have a tough start to the new era in F1, as it is racing with its new in-house power units that have been developed in collaboration with US automotive giant Ford. However, the reality is that the power unit appears strong, and the team is instead struggling to get to grips with the RB22.
In past years, the Milton Keynes squad has been able to unlock performance gains between practice and qualifying over a grand prix weekend. But that has not been the case so far in 2026, leaving drivers Verstappen and Hadjar wishing for more.
“I think it’s a combination of underlying performance,” Mekies added. “So, some more work we need to do. And [there is] a layer of us not being able to extract enough from the package and to give something Max and Isack can push with.
“I’m not suggesting that it’s set up tuning. I’m just saying there is something we are wrestling with, with that car, that adds to our underlying lack of performance. Now, trying to solve this sort of complex issues and trying to understand complex limitations is our core business. So, as much as it feels bad when you are at the back of the top teams like now, that’s precisely what the whole company is set up to do, to get to the bottom of complex limitations like that and nail them, bring development that can mitigate them and improve.”
Red Bull is a second behind Mercedes
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
Mekies said he had “full confidence” in the team to turn around its fortunes, as it managed to do just a year ago when it mounted a late charge for the championship after upgrades were brought to the Italian Grand Prix.
However, the team faces a challenge in this regard, as Hadjar previously warned that it was missing out on valuable track time to get to grips with the RB22 and test potential upgrade routes.
As F1 enters a month-long break following the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix, the Frenchman warned that the break was “definitely a bit of a disadvantage” as it worked to “understand” its car and power unit.
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