Following Verstappen’s wins in the Azerbaijan and Italian GP, Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies talks about the team’s approach to the F1 Championship fight, as well as taking time to choose the 2026 driver lineup.
Max Verstappen took victory in the Azerbaijan GP and was able to close the gap to Championship leader Oscar Piastri, who retired on lap one, to 69 points.
After taking wins in both the Azerbaijan GP and the previous round in Monza, Red Bull’s star driver looks to be back in the fight for the F1 Drivers’ Championship.
The resurgence of Verstappen was helped by the extensive upgrade package Red Bull brought to the Italian GP in Monza.
Red Bull to take ‘step by step’ approach to upcoming rounds.
Despite the recent positive results, Red Bull’s team principal, Laurent Mekies, was cautious when asked about Verstappen being a F1 Championship contender after the Azerbaijan GP.
“I tell you how we look at it.
“We really take it race by race.
“So, we don’t look at the championship positions.
“We don’t even look at it from a constructor perspective.”
Mekies explained that while recent results suggest an upward trend, the Italian and Azerbaijan GPs are held at very specific tracks, leading Red Bull to take a ‘step by step’ approach to the upcoming rounds.
Rather than focusing on the gap in both the F1 Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championship, Red Bull is focused on itself and the next race in Singapore.
“Yes, it’s nice to look at the battle for second place on the constructors, but we take it step by step in terms of our understanding of the car, in terms of our lap time on the car.
“We got some good answers in Monza, of course.
“We got some good answers today [Sunday of the Azerbaijan GP], we are equally conscious that there are two very, very specific tracks.
“So, the way we look at the next race is not by looking at the gap to whoever.”
“Singapore is going to be a different challenge, how we tackle it, how we learn and apply it, how much of that we think can be tested there, and how much risk you want to take.
“At the moment, we try to have a high-risk approach, try to learn as much as we can for the rest of the season so that we don’t prevail on championship discussions or whatever.”
Recent success provides a confidence boost.
While Mekies remained cautious about the fight for the F1 Drivers’ Championship, he couldn’t deny that Verstappen’s victories at the Azerbaijan and Italian GP provided a confidence boost.
The Red Bull team principal believes that the confidence boost will help the drivers to extract more from the car.
Making progress with the car, which will in turn help Red Bull in the F1 Championship fight, is the main priority, says Mekies.
“You’re right in saying that the confidence goes up.
“So, also you can take a bit more risk every race and experiment a bit more and unlock more lap time.
“Whether that has an effect on what McLaren does, honestly, I don’t know, probably none of our business.
“So, we concentrate on ourselves really, that’s what we want to see.
“We want to see the car making progress in some areas, and if it works, it will be good against McLaren, it will be good against Mercedes and Ferrari.”
There is time to decide the F1 2026 driver lineup.
The Azerbaijan GP did not just provide a strong performance from Red Bull’s reigning Champion, Verstappen, but also from teammate Yuki Tsunoda, as well as the Racing Bull Drivers.
With their drivers performing strongly across both teams, Mekies feels that Red Bull can take its time to evaluate their driver lineup for the 2026 F1 season.
While Red Bull will take time to decide on the second seat, Mekies notes that the team will not wait until the last round in Abu Dhabi to make a decision.
“It’s good news for us, it’s good news.
“That’s what we wish, that our drivers have performed.
“And it’s good news to see Yuki [Tsunoda] keeping it up, he deserves it.
“It’s why you see us relaxed about it, because we have time.
“Why would we rush?
“Because speed doesn’t disappear, drivers make progress.
“And it’s such a confidence, also, in business.
“And you see the confidence of Yuki [Tsunoda] this weekend was certainly high up, and he did [perform] very, very, very strongly.
“So, we have more time.”
“As we said, we will not wait until Abu Dhabi, but we have a few more races for sure.”
