Red Bull has downplayed the assessment of rivals that it has re-established itself as the team to beat for the rest of 2026.
Max Verstappen claimed back-to-back wins in Malaysia and Singapore, the first accomplished by Red Bull while running their own in-house engine, and finished second just behind George Russell at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix before that.
Several drivers, including Russell and Oscar Piastri, said on Sunday that Red Bull has moved ahead of the pack.
When asked if he agreed with the growing paddock consensus about his team’s car, Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies was cautious, pointing to how the competitive order has ebbed and flowed all year.
“I think what is a fact is that in these last three races, we had the pace to win, and actually we won two out of the three,” he said. “So for the first time this season, in these three races, we had the ultimate pace.
“And it’s fair to say that the three tracks are different enough for one to think that moving to other types of tracks, the car should be competitive. And that’s also what we think, that the car should be competitive, having shown what it has shown in the last three races. Now, it’s never a given, and you have seen this with many, many examples this year.
“You had the back-to-back wins from the McLaren, and then they suffered a bit more after. You had some very dominant periods from Mercedes, and after that have been suffering.
“It’s a fight every race weekend to extract everything. If you do so, we think we can fight for [the] win.”
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli joked on Sunday night that he was glad Verstappen is so far off the pace due to Red Bull’s slow start to the season.
He admitted the prospect of him being any closer was a “very scary” thought, but also said he felt Mercedes still has not extracted the maximum out of its current package.
Asked if recent results were Red Bull’s upgrades moving them to the front, or Mercedes not getting the most out of its new upgrade package, Antonelli said: “I think it’s probably mostly us not extracting the maximum out of the new package. Of course, Red Bull has done an incredible step forward. Max has been more comfortable with the car and extracting more out of it. It’s a combination of things.”
Mekies was quick to allude to this point, too.
The Red Bull boss said his team does not plan further upgrades down the line, but expect to see some more from their nearest rivals.
“There is another element, which is that, as it is well documented, we have completed our update programme for this year,” he added. “So this pecking order could very rapidly change if some or many of our competitors bring upgrades.”