Led by Laurent Mekies, it was a mixed start to life for Red Bull as they began their own engine journey at the 2026 F1 Australian GP. Max Verstappen went from P20 to P6, with Isack Hadjar having a DNF.
No surprise to Laurent Mekies where Red Bull stand in the pecking order at the 2026 F1 Australian GP
Along with Andrea Stella, the French engineer was confident Red Bull F1 would be a top four team on the basis of testing. Like the Italian, he suspected Mercedes and Ferrari had the best pace. Melbourne confirmed that.
In qualifying Ferrari underperformed a bit, but it was equally a superb effort by Isack Hadjar to qualify P3 on his debut for Red Bull. Max Verstappen’s race pace suggests the team is in a very close fight with McLaren behind the top two.
The gap to Mercedes and Ferrari in race trim was very noticable and big. As Mekies acknowledges, there is a lot of work ahead to catch the top two.
“So I start with the competitiveness.
“So, yes, we did predict that we would be four teams coming out of the pre-season testings. As it turned out, I think it’s pretty accurate.
“It was probably a touch better than that this weekend in the way that Isack [Hadjar] was P3 on the grid on the clean qualifying. So he’s done a very good job there to maximise everything.
“And in the race, it’s probably fair to say that we were at least at the pace with McLaren. But certainly not able to fight with the Ferrari or with the Mercedes.
“So it’s something that we are aware of. We have the ambition and the duty to build the path to go and get these guys. It will take a bit of time.
“But no, it was not a surprise.”
The gap to Mercedes as expected
Despite the best efforts of Mercedes to downplay their speed during testing, both on track and in front of the cameras, Australia showed why almost everyone had them as favourites.
Laurent Mekies explained the gap between Red Bull and Mercedes was pretty much as expected in the 2026 F1 Australian GP.
“And in terms of gap to Mercedes, we said after the pre-season testing it was very difficult to evaluate because we knew some games were being played to hide pace.
“So I would not say that we are surprised with the gap we see here. It’s probably also what we felt we will end up having to deal with.
While unsure of the exact gap to Mercedes, the Frenchman outlined how he feels it is close to 1s. Verstappen finished 54s behind after 58 laps on Sunday, although he did need to pass a lot of cars in the first part of the Grand Prix.
“Too early to say.
“Overall number, you have the same numbers as us. The overall number today was probably close to a second a lap, I would say.”
Where Red Bull is lacking pace compared to the front runners after 2026 F1 Australian GP
Asked where he feels the deficit to the top teams is, Mekies says they must improve both the chassis and power unit.
This is the team’s first year making their own engines. Naturally it will take time to fully understand it as well. Alongside that, brand new regulations came into force for this season.
Working on extracting the maximum out of the power unit, as well as adding performance on the car side, will be key.
“So, I guess the way to answer you is that I think we are all, chassis side and PU side, fairly far from having an optimised product. Hence, without modifying the hardware, you hope that both chassis side and PU side, we can extract more lap time.
“Whether that’s the case of the competition as well, we think so. Maybe some less than others.
“But I think as a first step, there is a lot we can do.”
Proud of the competitiveness but plenty of work for Red Bull F1 to do after the 2026 Australian GP: Mekies
The enormity of the project Red Bull faced to get their F1 engine programme up and running should not be underestimated. A lot of quality came in and have proven their worth.
Although they do not have the benchmark power unit in 2026, it is proving to be extremely respectable and mostly reliable.
Explaining his pride at what RBPT achieved, Laurent Mekies knows plenty of work is ahead for Red Bull F1 to get right back to the front.
“You know, the dominant feeling is that we have confirmed that we are in the fight. So, the main thing, we have confirmed that we are in the fight.
“We are very proud of everyone in Milton Keynes for the work done in the last three years, for the work done coming to this season to be able to be in the fight straight away from race one. I think it’s a huge achievement.
“Do we have the ambition and the obligations to do better? Yes. But yes, the starting point is that we are fighting here, P3 yesterday; P20 to P6 today.”
Understanding things and the development race
With the these brand new regulations, car development will be a big storyline across 2026. As Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are likely to be cancelled, it would leave a sizeable gap between Suzuka and Miami for teams to work even harder on upgrades. It would be even more key to get them on quickly with two less rounds.
As well as that, understanding these power units will require plenty of work on a Saturday and Sunday. Both Red Bull drivers had no battery off the line on Sunday afternoon, meaning they were sitting ducks. It was painful for Isack Hadjar as his initial launch was outstanding. He had looked likely to take the lead.
“We think we will be fighting in China and then we will start the development race. We knew already; we will start the learning race.
“You have seen how things are imperfect during the race weekend. Many people complained yesterday in qualifying that you could not optimise your lap because it’s effectively difficult session to session, run to run, to nail everything out of these rules. So, that’s a challenge that we embrace, we have to embrace.
“And then the same in the race. You have seen in the opening laps, we got caught with the formation lap. There has been a lot going on.
“But the bottom line is, we are in the fight here, we will be in the fight of this top four hopefully next week. And thereafter, we need to develop faster than the competition.”
