Team Principal Laurent Mekies shared his thoughts on Max Verstappen’s chances of securing a win with a cleaner qualifying and why they decided not to swap positions between the Dutchman and Isack Hadjar following Red Bull’s double F1 podium at the 2026 Azerbaijan GP on Saturday.
What went down in Baku
With the internal combustion engine not working properly and lacking power, Verstappen only managed to set the eighth-fastest time in qualifying. Meanwhile, Hadjar placed himself on the second row with a strong lap.
As the lights went out, Lando Norris surged past Hadjar for P4. Verstappen gained positions from Pierre Gasly and Lewis Hamilton to rise to P6 by the second lap.
At the start of Lap 3, Hadjar snatched fourth place back from Norris, and the Brit lost out to Verstappen soon after.
After Hadjar had breezed past Charles Leclerc on the long start-finish straight at the start of Lap 4, Verstappen repeated the move on the next tour.
The 28-year-old, who had started the race on the medium compound, powered past Hadjar down the main straight on Lap 7, and he rapidly closed up to challenge Oscar Piastri.
Sitting in the dirty air, Verstappen began to struggle for grip. Hadjar questioned the Dutchman’s pace and asked Red Bull to “tell him to keep pushing,” before changing his mind and claiming that his soft tyres were still performing well. Nonetheless, he remained behind his teammate.
The team’s dilemma was solved on Lap 31 as Alex Albon hit the wall and brought out the Safety Car. With new softs on board, Verstappen rejoined in P3 behind Piastri. Hadjar, on mediums, slotted back into P4.
The 4-time world champion finally succeeded in taking P2 away from Piastri at the restart on Lap 36. Going into Turn 1 on Lap 40, Piastri locked up and slid into the run-off. Hadjar swept past to claim third place.
Although Verstappen stuck as close as possible on the final lap and pulled alongside down the start-finish straight, he ultimately crossed the line 0.196 seconds behind George Russell.
Mekies taking away positives from the 2026 Azerbaijan GP despite Verstappen finishing second
Speaking in a print media session after the 51-lap F1 race, Laurent Mekies weighed in on whether Verstappen could’ve won the 2026 Azerbaijan GP had he started higher up the grid with a cleaner qualifying.
Conceding that a better qualifying session would’ve provided them with more opportunities, the Frenchman surmised that the 71-time race winner charging from P8 on the starting grid to genuinely contend for the win against a faster Mercedes was, nevertheless, a positive outcome.
“You know, for sure we would have been in a situation where we would have had a few more shots at it. You know, we would have had the race start, we would have had the first stint.
“I think, ultimately, the way Max [Verstappen] stormed back from P8 gave us a shot at fighting with George [Russell] in the last, whatever it was, 20 laps.
“And so, I think we got our shot. We could’ve got maybe a couple of more, but we got our shot. We missed it by one tenth after 51 laps, and that’s what we take from today.”
Radio discussions over potential swap of positions in the first stint
With regard to Verstappen struggling for grip on his medium tyres and Hadjar implicitly asking for team orders on Lap 21 of the 2026 Azerbaijan GP, Laurent Mekies addressed their radio exchanges and stated that the Red Bull drivers being on different compounds had helped them make a decision.
Noting how the softs were the better tyres in Baku on Saturday, the 49-year-old revealed that they had contemplated multiple scenarios and ultimately opted to freeze positions and keep Piastri under pressure since every team was awaiting a Safety Car before making their first pit stops.
Furthermore, Mekies added that Red Bull were pretty optimistic about Verstappen being able to challenge Piastri and Russell once he switched to the better compound in his second stint.
“It was actually helping the thinking because it became quite quickly apparent in the first part of the race that at least for us, and I guess for most, the soft was giving better performance than the medium.
“And therefore, we have evaluated various scenarios on what to do. You know, do you shoot early to switch your car to better tyres, or do you play the long game?
“Obviously, there was a very high Safety Car risk, and I think everyone was waiting for the Safety Car to pit in order not to be the unlucky one. And we felt that in that context, it was best to keep the car in that order, as close as possible to Oscar [Piastri].
“And at that time, we felt quite confident that after the pit stop, with the tyres inverted, we would have a good shot at Oscar and George, and ultimately, that’s what happened.”
