The 2026 F1 Dutch GP was nothing as expected for Red Bull Racing; Max Verstappen crashed out on the first lap. Speaking after the race, Laurent Mekies shared his thoughts about the weekend.
The weekend was certainly irregular. Due to Isack Hadjar’s wrist injury, Racing Bulls Liam Lawson took his car. Yuki Tsunoda stepped in for the Kiwi.
Mekies on Verstappen’s crash at 2026 F1 Dutch GP and Red Bull’s performance
Verstappen and Lawson started on the fourth row on Sunday; however, the Dutchman lost control of his car and hit the wall during the opening lap in the banked and wet final corner on slicks.
With the end of the F1 contract with Zandvoort, this was his last home GP, underlining Verstappen’s disappointment.
“Hi everyone, difficult weekend here in Zandvoort. First of all, I think it’s the most important thing is that Max is okay. It was a pretty big shunt and we are all glad to see that he’s out of the car, unarmed and that’s what matters the most today.”
Red Bull had made quick and powerful progress before the 2026 F1 summer break, with Verstappen on the podium four times following a tough start in the first three rounds.
Therefore this was a weekend of frustration for the team. Mekies explained that the team had noticed issues with there performance over the weekend. They were clearly a good step behind McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari.
“Performance wise, you know, I think there is nowhere to hide. It was a very difficult weekend. It seems like we have made a bit of a step back compared to where we were before the summer break.
“Of course, we’ll never know what the real pace of the car in the race will have been with Max, but it’s fair to say that session after session it looked more difficult than it was in Budapest or in Spa or in Austria.”
Ahead of the 2026 F1 Italian GP, Mekies shared that the team would go over all the data of the weekend. With the short break he highlighted that they will figure out the issues and come back stronger than ever.
“So, some tough work for us to do, to regroup and to see if it is simply the competition that has done a better job than us at upgrading the car or if something has been limiting us more than it should have been here in Zandvoort. So, that will be for us the next two weeks before we fight back into Monza all together.”
Mekies highly impressed by Lawson’s performance and Isack’s support in Zandvoort
Liam Lawson, who had started the 2025 F1 season with Red Bull but then was switched to Racing Bulls after just two Grands Prix, had an impressive weekend.
The Kiwi, who is having a tremendous season, was able to perform impressively in the RB22. Despite the lack in pace of Red Bull last weekend, Lawson was very close to Verstappen in qualifying.
He finished his Sunday P7, leaving the Netherlands with 6 points to his name.
“And perhaps to note as well on Liam, he’s done a good job stepping into the car. It’s never easy to step into a different team and different car for a race like that and he’s done a good job. Only one tenth away from Max yesterday in qualifying and today took the points that were available to him pace-wise with the seventh place.“
Even though Isack Hadjar did not race for Red Bull at Circuit Zandvoort, he supported the team from the garage. This way the Frenchman was able to take note of Red Bull’s performance.
“So, we also had Isack with us this weekend even though he couldn’t be driving. He was with the team trying to take the learning and trying to make sure we can push all together as strongly as we can next week in Monza. Thank you for the support.”
