Max Verstappen’s second place finish at the 2026 F1 Spanish GP in Madrid provided Red Bull with another encouraging result, but team principal Laurent Mekies admits the team’s underlying problems will take longer to solve.
Despite Verstappen’s recent string of strong results—the Dutchman has finished on the podium at every race he has seen the flag at since the Austrian GP—he remains win-less so far this season. While he has been able to capitalise on rivals’ struggles, the RB22 is still not delivering the level of performance required to compete for victories on a regular basis.
Asked about Verstappen’s complaints—the Red Bull driver has repeatedly highlighted “car degradation” at the rear axle as an issue—Mekies acknowledged post-2026 Spanish GP that the problem has affected the team’s performance across sessions, although he declined to reveal precisely what is causing it or how the team plans to solve it.
Red Bull still has work to do despite P2 at Spanish GP, says Mekies
“Jokes aside, I don’t think we are going to explain what it is and how we are going to fix it,” Mekies told the media after the 2026 Spanish GP.
“I think Max is right. There is an element of car performance degradation that is happening through a session and through a race. He’s right in saying it is not a new issue.”
Mekies continued: “We are not sleeping on it. We have been trying to tackle that in different ways. Obviously, I consider it a complex issue, otherwise we would get to the bottom of it.
“But everyone is very constructive about it and tries to make small steps at the time to be able to get to the bottom of it, finally. We had a couple of positive steps in that regard this weekend. It will never be the full picture, but we certainly have, through pain, we have made progress in our understanding.”
He added that the process will realistically extend beyond the 2026 season.
“We don’t have all the solutions yet in the car, but I trust that we are on the right way. It will not be fast, so it’s something that will probably take us through the next year.”
Considering the strong performance at the 2026 Spanish GP, Mekies was asked whether particular circuit characteristics triggered or worsened the problem. He suggested that the issue is connected to the car’s overall performance rather than being track-specific.
“I’m not really going to give any more details, but as I said, it’s some aspect of the car performance that sometimes doesn’t stay at the optimal level. It’s serious lap time. There is no doubt that we have everyone trying to improve that for the future.”
