Red Bull had a good Sunday at the 2026 F1 Canadian GP, with Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar bagging 25 points between them for the team led by Laurent Mekies.
The Dutchman secured the team’s first podium of 2026 with 3rd; it also marks a new milestone as this is their debut season with their own Power Units. He crossed the line 11.2s behind race winner Kimi Antonelli. Two penalties and the extra stops to serve them meant Isack Hadjar was lapped in P5.
In qualifying on Saturday, cars #3 and #6 finished up P6 and P7, just over 0.3s off polesitter George Russell.
Although Verstappen was closer to pole in Miami in terms of time and grid position, this was still a solid showing and progress compared to the first three rounds. They are now a very solid P4 in the standings.
Red Bull’s step in performance confirmed at the 2026 F1 Canadian GP — Mekies
Speaking in a print media session after the 2026 F1 Canadian GP, Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies believes the pace jump from the upgraded car in Miami was confirmed in Montréal.
In fact, he thinks they were a bit closer than in Miami in race trim. The first race of three in the United States this year did not give a full picture as Verstappen’s early spin and mammoth stint on the hard tyre left him on far older tyres than the drivers around him in the second half of that Grand Prix. He finished P5 at the end of it.
“Big picture, I see, at the very least, we confirmed the Miami steps.
“I think we’ve done a bit more than the Miami step, in the way that I think we have managed to take a bit of performance away from the top guys.
“Just looking at the lap time now, it was 3 tenths yesterday in quali. But I think today we were a bit closer than the half a second [race pace] deficit that we had in Miami.
“In Miami, we finished 40 seconds from the win [with Verstappen]. So I think it was a bit closer here.
“Now, there is probably no reason to get too excited in the way that you could also have a track layout effect. It’s a track that could be forgiving for certain aspects of the car.
“But I think at the very least, again, we confirmed Miami. I think the guys managed to get something more.
“And if you consider that competition had another flow of updates this weekend, I think it’s just confirming that we are going in the right direction with the development.”
Plenty of difficulties nonetheless
Although Max Verstappen was far closer to the race winner on Sunday vs Miami, and Isack Hadjar was a lot more competitive, both drivers were unhappy with the car through most or all of the weekend.
The four-time F1 World Champion also revealed in a Dutch media session post-qualifying that Red Bull decided against using his feedback following the Sprint. It meant the 71-time race winner tested a set-up he was not a fan of in the race.
Post-race at the 2026 Canadian GP, Laurent Mekies was asked about Verstappen’s struggles with the car compared to Miami.
Throughout last year, whether it was under Horner or the Frenchman, Red Bull took big swings at the set-up as the 2025 package had a very narrow operating window.
The former Ferrari and FIA man revealed that pushing the envelope on set-up to find performance is part of the Red Bull DNA.
“It was a lot less straight forward than Miami.
“I think as soon as we are in a situation where we don’t feel Max and Isack are not at ease to push, we take risks.
“That’s what we’ve done last year; that’s what this team has been doing for a number of years. That’s what we’ve done this weekend.
“So as soon as we are there, we are going to try things. It’s only the beginning of the year. It’s the beginning of this generation of cars. We are going to try things with our drivers to unlock something even if it’s costing us something.
“And you learn. You learn for the quali condition, you learn for the race condition. So a lot of learning this weekend.
“How far are we from the ultimate potential of the car here? Nobody really knows.”
