Mekies expects Red Bull to fight for podiums after Verstappen’s first 2026 win
Archive photograph: Laurent Mekies at Web Summit in Lisbon on 11 November 2025. Archive photo. Resized and converted to WebP. · 2025-11-11Archive photo · 2025-11-11 · Alex Broadway / Web Summit / Sportsfile · CC BY 4.0
After Max Verstappen’s first win of 2026, Red Bull’s next priority is learning from its current package, team principal Laurent Mekies says. He expects podium contention in the coming races but says it is impossible to know whether the team can challenge for wins at every circuit, GPBeat reports.
Max Verstappen’s first win of the 2026 season gave Red Bull the result it had placed at the top of its priority list, team principal Laurent Mekies said after the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. The next priority, he said, is to learn as much as possible from the current package.
Red Bull will keep experimenting and taking risks to maximise that learning, Mekies said. He expects the team to fight for podiums in the coming races, but says it is impossible to know whether Red Bull can challenge for wins at every circuit.
Mekies said Mercedes has always been in the fight for wins and that matching its race pace consistently is difficult. He also pointed to strong periods for McLaren and Ferrari, while saying Red Bull will focus on itself. Singapore is next after Baku and Malaysia.
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- SOURCEVerstappen equals Schumacher record with ultimate Hamilton score in sightRacingNews365 English
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