Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies has admitted that the team will shift more of its focus toward the 2027 season car following the summer break, at the expense of further developing the RB22, the model used in F1 2026. The boss indicated that the transition is natural, but noted that the decision is also driven by the fact that the team is not currently in contention for the title.
In 2025, Red Bull made significant progress in the closing stages of the season. With Max Verstappen in the title hunt, the team introduced several upgrade packages — at a much higher volume than McLaren — allowing the Dutchman to take the fight to the final round, although he was ultimately defeated by Lando Norris by just two points.
However, that effort came at the cost of development time for the current season’s car, leaving Red Bull slightly off the pace of the frontrunners at the start of F1 2026. In an interview with Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, Mekies emphasized that while the RB22 will still receive updates, they will come in smaller quantities than in late 2025, as primary focus moves to next year’s campaign.
“We are in a very different situation from last year, when we were in full fightback mode and competing for the title until the very end. Because of that, we won’t push as hard now as we did on that occasion. After the summer break, most of our attention will shift to the 2027 car, which I consider completely normal. We will still have some updates this season, but fewer than in 2025,” Mekies said.
Asked whether Verstappen could win races during the 2026 F1 season, Mekies replied that he believes it is possible, pointing to Red Bull’s recent progress over the last few rounds. Still, he reiterated that the team’s primary efforts will be geared toward the 2027 project.
The boss also explained that the prolonged development of the 2025 car, alongside the in-house power unit project, contributed to their delayed start to the current campaign.
“Of course [Verstappen can win]. If you’re 0.3s off the leaders, it’s usually very difficult to win. But, for instance, in Austria we were much closer, and in Hungary only Norris’s pace was untouchable during the race. Whether we can bridge that gap quickly, only time will tell,” Mekies commented.
“The situation is also different from last year because we will turn our focus to the future earlier. Compared to the start of the season, we have already closed a significant portion of the deficit,” the Red Bull chief added.
“And it wasn’t exactly surprising that such a gap existed, right? Not only because we continued developing last year’s car intensively for a long time, but also because you cannot underestimate the challenge of integrating our own power unit. We are paying that price now, but in the long run, it will pay off more than we can imagine. The first half of the season was a true rollercoaster, but we are making progress, and over the last four races, we’ve been fighting for podiums,” he concluded.
Formula 1 is now on its summer break. The category resumes action for the 2026 season from August 21 to 23 with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
