Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies reflected on the their performance at the 2026 F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP, labelling the weekend a “reality check” for the team.
Mekies believes Red Bull is still in the top four
At the 2026 F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP, Red Bull were not as competitive as they were a weekend prior in Monaco.
Isack Hadjar had finished the race in P6 while his teammate Max Verstappen took the chequered flag in P4. However, the four-time world champion finished over 40 seconds behind the race winner. The Frenchman benefitted from late DNFs for Antonelli and Leclerc, with the Dutchman also taking advantage of car #12 breaking down.
Despite the challenging weekend at the 2026 F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP, Mekies still believes Red Bull is a part of the four-way team battle with the likes of Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes.
The Frenchman also admitted that the Circuit de Catalunya was not a strong track for the RB22. However, Red Bull showed potential to beat some of the top 4 cars.
“I would not say we are in no man’s land. You know, we are with the top four fighting. Not every track layout we can fight for a podium. So we could fight for podium obviously in Canada, in Monaco, but we couldn’t fight for podium here. That’s fair. Nonetheless, I think before the last few laps drama, we could beat one Ferrari and one McLaren today. It was the best we could have done.”
Mekies knew Red Bull would struggle at the 2026 F1 Barcelona-Catalunya GP
Laurent Mekies then shared that he knew the team would struggle at the 2026 F1 Barcelona-Catalunya due to the high speed layout of the Circuit de Catalunya.
Compared to the Circuit de Monaco, which is characterised by low speed and maximum downforce, the Circuit de Catalunya features high speed sections, long straights and higher tyre degradation.
“You know, I think we were expecting that reality check in Barcelona. First track with a long straight, the mid speed, high speed corners. You know, it’s probably the first time after China, Japan, where we come back to this sort of track.”
Nonetheless, Mekies believes that Red Bull’s performance at the 2026 F1 Barcelona GP is evidence of the improvement in pace the team has made compared to the start of the season. At China and Japan, they were slower than Alpine in qualifying. Max Verstappen also finished behind Pierre Gasly on the Sunday at Suzuka.
“So we’re expecting certainly a different performance compared to Monaco, where we could suddenly fight for pole. So, you know, I think this weekend comes from progress, because what we are talking about is three or four tenths from pole or three or four tenths from what you need to do to fight for the win. And that was certainly a very different picture at the beginning of the year on these sorts of tracks.
“There is still a gap, no doubt, PU side, chassis side. And, you know, that’s what we need to fight for next.“
Regardless, the Frenchman agreed with Verstappen’s sentiment that Red Bull still had room to improve, especially on high speed circuits.
“So to your point and to Max’s questions or to Max’s comments, he’s right. Now it’s not about one single thing anymore. It’s about finding a little bit of performance in mid speed corners, in high speed corners, on the straight line, etc.”
