Following the 2026 F1 Monaco GP, Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies spoke about the team’s progress after Miami and leaving Monaco with a question mark over the car’s performance after Max Verstappen DNF’d on Lap 1 and Isack Hadjar struggled with engine issues throughout the race.
After a difficult start to the 2026 F1 season, Red Bull introduced its first upgrade package at the Miami GP, which produced varying results in terms of the gap to the frontrunners across sessions during rounds in Miami, Canada, and Monaco.
Given the performance swings across sessions, Laurent Mekies was asked to opine on the car’s form during his post-F1 Monaco GP print media session.
Looking back at Red Bull’s performance at rounds in Miami and Canada
“It’s an interesting read [on things]. I don’t disagree, but let me try to see how we see it, right or wrong,” Mekies responded before explaining that he believed the gap to be around half a second on race trim in Miami. An improvement from the pre-Miami race gap of one second, but not as close as in Qualifying for the Miami GP, where Max Verstappen slotted into P2 just under two tenths adrift from pole sitter Antonelli.
“I think Miami, we were, as we said, it depends on what sample you would like to look at.
“Miami, Friday quali, I think it was 6 tenths from pole. Saturday quali, closer, 2 tenths from pole. In the race, we read ourselves around half a second away.
“I think we finished the race 40 seconds off, so between the 3 and the 6 [tenths]. I think the Miami sample is us switching from one second away to half a second away. That produced 40 seconds in the race, more or less.”
At the F1 Canadian GP, Red Bull was closer in race trim, with Verstappen crossing the finish line in third, 10 seconds behind the race-winning Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli. However, the gap in Qualifying grew compared to Miami, which Mekies attributes to setup choices that “helped” Red Bull in race trim but proved less beneficial for Qualifying.
“Then, Canada. Canada, we were 3 tenths from pole with Max. You’re right, in the race it looked a bit better.
“But again, sometimes you pick a setup that helps you a bit more in the race than in qualifying. Certainly, Max did a very strong race in Canada. He finished, I think, 10 seconds from the lead.”
Mekies on Red Bull’s performance level at the 2026 F1 Monaco GP
Speaking about the 2026 F1 Monaco GP, Red Bull’s team principal found it difficult to judge the overall form, given Verstappen’s retirement on Lap 1 and car troubles for Isack Hadjar.
While impossible to judge Red Bull’s performance level on Sunday, free practice sessions on Friday yielded positive results, leading the team to seek gains ahead of the third practice session. Unfortunately, gains were not found for FP3, but Red Bull managed to improve for Qualifying, with Verstappen slotting into P2 just 0.043 seconds of pole position.
“And then here, we’ll never know. Max was strong on Friday. We tried to extract a bit more.
“We didn’t manage to in FP3, so we had to find another optimum point. The guys have been brilliant at finding another optimum point, probably better than the Friday one. At the last second for quali.
“And the race, we’ll never know. And honestly, we’ll also never know for Isack because of the magnitude of the issues we had.
Questioned on whether he believed that Red Bull could have challenged Monaco GP winner Kimi Antonelli, Mekies responded:
“I think it’s the part we’ll never know. So, everything I would say is complete speculation.
“Kimi [Antonelli] disappeared, yes. It’s always difficult. I could tell you, we can look at the FP2 lap times, but every day is different around Monaco.
“So, honestly, I don’t think we have that answer.”
Mekies would have liked to see Verstappen challenge Antonelli
At the 2026 F1 Monaco, Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli secured a commanding victory, earning praise from Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies, who noted that Antonelli “surprised” with his pace. Given the Mercedes drivers’ blistering pace, Mekies pondered whether Max Verstappen could have posed a threat to the eventual Monaco GP winner, but conceded that due to the retirement, they would “never know”. However, considering Verstappen’s strong form in Qualifying for the 2026 F1 Monaco GP, Mekies lamented the missed opportunity of seeing Verstappen’s performance in the race.
“I think, credit to Kimi [Antonelli]. I think he surprised all of us by being that fast around here on his second year only.
“And I think he showed today that what he had done yesterday was not one magical lap, but that he had a very serious pace. Whether or not Max [Verstappen] would have been able to challenge that pace, again, we’ll never know. But certainly, the level at which Max has been running in qualifying, not just one lap, you know, Q2, the two attempts of Q3 was very impressive.
“And we know that every time you manage to get Max comfortable with the car, you get that extra Max effect. So, I would have liked to see what he would have done in the race.”
