Laurent Mekies reveals Red Bull’s upgrade plan for the rest of the as Max Verstappen picks up consecutive wins
Laurent Mekies confirmed that Red Bull will not introduce any further upgrades to counter McLaren’s development push over the next few races. Speaking to media, including Vision F1, the Frenchman suggested that the team would shift its focus towards the 2027 car.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella recently revealed that his team would introduce upgrades in three phases over the upcoming races to address its performance deficit to Red Bull and Ferrari. He estimated that McLaren were around three-tenths of a second behind Red Bull following the latter’s upgrades in Azerbaijan. Both teams introduced significant upgrades in Baku, but their results during the Asian triple-header were contrasting. Red Bull secured a double podium in Azerbaijan before Max Verstappen won the races in Malaysia and Singapore, while McLaren recorded a significantly lower points tally across the three weekends.
Mekies confirmed that Red Bull would not introduce further upgrades in response to McLaren’s development plan. Instead, the team intends to focus its resources on the 2027 car, with the cost cap allowing it to allocate its budget towards next season’s challenger. However, he stressed that Red Bull would continue working to improve its performance over the remaining races and extract the maximum potential from its current car.
The team principal also praised the efforts of Pierre Wache and Ben Hodgkinson’s respective teams for the significant turnaround in Red Bull’s performance. Wache oversees the chassis division, while Hodgkinson leads the engine development programme at Red Bull Powertrains. Mekies felt both teams had played a key role in turning around their performance and making the car package competitive.
Asked by VisionF1 if Red Bull were bringing upgrades to respond to their rivals development plans, Mekies said:
“No, no. So, there will be no other substantial upgrade to the car. Now don’t get me wrong, it does not mean that we will not continue to push very hard, to improve, continue to be very hard, to use every remaining races, to learn from this year, and to learn for next year. Thats what we have to say to each other, we say to each other, that the first win is a target, but the other target is to take all the learnings. So, the development program will not change. We have put our focus to 2027. We think there is still a huge amount of money in 2026 that we could use in 2027.”
“I’d like to take the time to say a huge congrats to Pierre’s [Wache] teams, to Ben’s [Hodgkinson] teams, all the work at the 360s they have done, in order to be in that position to fight for the win on different tracks. As I say, even on a weekend where you take two poles and two wins, like this weekend, we are still very honest with each other about the fact that there are still a number of things we would like to see better done, even on a weekend, like, here. And that is the spirit of this team, and it’s with that spirit, that we will go on and reset and tackle the next races.”
Laurent Mekies believes Red Bull performance surge might not be permanent
Laurent Mekies played down suggestions that Red Bull have established themselves as the benchmark on the grid following their strong performances in the last few races. George Russell had assessed that the Asian triple-header showed Red Bull to be the team to beat in terms of performance. However, Mekies believes the competitive order can still change, despite Red Bull winning two of the three races and demonstrating strong outright pace throughout the triple-header.
The Red Bull team principal pointed out that the performance pecking order had fluctuated throughout the season. He cited McLaren’s similar pattern of winning two races before struggling during the Asian triple-header. He also recalled how Mercedes had enjoyed periods of dominance before encountering difficulties during the same stretch of races. Mekies noted that upgrades had played a significant role in determining the competitive order this season, with the performance balance shifting as teams introduced developments to their cars.
Asked if Russell’s assessment of their performance was accurate, Mekies replied:
“You know, I think what is the fact is that in these last three races, we had the pace to win, and actually we won two out of three. So for the first time this season, in these three races, we had the ultimate pace. And it’s fair to say that those three tracks are different enough for one to think that moving to other type of tracks, the car should be competitive, and that’s also what we think that it’s a car should be competitive, having shown what it has shown in the last few races now. A, it’s never a given, and you have seen, with many examples this year, you have the back to back wins from the McLaren and then suffered a bit more after, you had some very dominant periods from Mercedes, and after that they have been suffering. So it’s a fight every race weekend, to extract everything. If you do so, we think we can fight for a win. It is another element, which is that as it is well documented, we have completed our updated program, for this year. So, this pecking order could well, very rapidly change, if some or many of our competitors bring upgrades.”
Among the top four teams on the grid, Red Bull have collected the most points during the Asian triple-header. In Baku, they secured a double podium, with Max Verstappen finishing second and Isack Hadjar taking third. In Malaysia, Verstappen won the race, while Hadjar finished fifth. In Singapore, the Dutchman won both the sprint and the main race, maximising Red Bull’s points tally for the weekend.
The four-time world champion is now fourth in the drivers’ championship with 221 points. He is 17 points behind second-placed George Russell and eight points behind third-placed Lewis Hamilton. In the constructors’ championship, Red Bull sit fourth with 332 points, trailing second-placed Ferrari by 112 points and third-placed McLaren by seven. If Red Bull can maintain this momentum over the remaining rounds, Verstappen could well finish in the top three of the drivers’ championship by the end of the season.
