Last Updated on April 1 2026, 8:20 am
Laurent Mekies arrived at Red Bull Racing in the middle of the summer of 2026 following the sacking of Christian Horner. Within three races he was the golden boy, apparently turning around the team’s Formula One fortunes in a jiffy, with Max Verstappen making the podium in every race from Zandvoort to Abu Dhabi.
The Dutch ace close down a gap of over a 100 points to fall short of the drivers title by just 14 come the curtain falling on the year. Yet the real test of the French engineer’s leadership is now under way, as Red Bull are languishing down in sixth place after just three race weekends this season.
It was the “Monza floor” which was credited with the revival of the lack lustre RB21 which was fitted to the car for the first time three races after Horner’s departure. Yet the time lag for the development of such a part means it was well under way whilst Horner remained in charge.
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Verstappen highlights RB22 chassis weakness
The focus of many of Verstappen’s media interviews this season has been the all new rules of racing which mean the drivers are primarily now focused on energy management issues, rather than racing lines and flat out driving. Yet even Max has found time to reveal how poor the RB22 really is as a car.
The quadruple world champion was edged out of Q3 in Japan as Red Bull rookie Arvid Lindblad in his Racing Bull claimed the final spot for the top ten shootout. Verstappen was not backwards in coming forwards over the problems he faced driving the car.
“The car never turns mid-corner,” he said. “At the same time, this weekend again, just oversteer a lot on entry. It’s really difficult. Unpredictable.” At a demanding circuit like Suzuka with its high speed esses together with the 90 degree Degna’s and the giant arc of Spoon corner, the RB22 was evidently stubborn in its understeer then lurched to snaps of oversteer.
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Max tested new aero package which failed
Red Bull had brought a number of aerodynamic upgrades to Japan, including sleeker side pods together with a variety of mechanical tweaks as Verstappen explained. “We thought we’d fixed it a little bit in FP3, I mean, there’s still a lot of understeer in the car,” the Dutchman continued.
“Now, in qualifying again, for me, it was undriveable. That’s something we need to look at. Also, I’m driving with a different aero package this weekend, yet it seems like that’s not working, so that’s also not very good.”
The argument has been that it will be Mercedes who will suffer from the loss of the Bahrain and Saudi Grand Prix, yet in reality the six hours of track time each driver receives at a weekend would have better served the likes of Red Bull who cold continue to test to find the reasons for their car’s limitations.
And it’s not just Verstappen who was scathing over Red Bull’s 2026 F1 challenger, Isack Hadjar blamed the chassis for his woes whilst commending the all new Red Bull powertrain for doing its job.
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Hadjar praises Red Bull engine
The French-Algerian driver has out qualified Verstappen in the past two Grand Prix and despite being the first Red Bull driver in a decade who appears to be capable of challenging Verstappen, his focus is on the chassis which needs improving.
“The only positive right now is that we can drive the car fast, but we have no lead on how we can make a fast one,” he said after qualifying in Suzuka. “We have a good power unit. Engine’s good. It is just the chassis side is terrible, just slow in the corners.”
Hadjar is not the only one to paint a confused picture with team principal Laurent Mekies suggesting the team had been “starting to scratch heads” since China.
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Mekies claims nothing much has changed
Team boss Laurent Mekies to adits there’s plenty of head scratching going on in Milton Keynes since the Chinese Grand Prix. “So at first we left Melbourne thinking that we were one second off Mercedes and half a second off Ferrari,” he said. “The biggest difference in Melbourne was that McLaren looked in reach there, and actually Max came back from P20 to bump into Norris.
“Then we see that gap largely increasing in China and you have seen us starting to scratch heads there about car balance and car characteristics. And then here, also it didn’t look good at all on Friday, Saturday, and certainly, there is nothing to be happy about today,” added the Red Bull boss.
Mekies continued to analyse that the overall gap to the competition was similar to that in Australia in terms of “one second to the best guy, half a second to the next best, Ferrari, but now McLaren is at that same level, so we are distant fourth.
“That’s the reality, and I think it’s a combination of underlying performance and a layer of us not being able to extract enough from the package and to give something Max and Isack can push with.”
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Red Bull don’t understand the source of the problem
More worryingly, Mekies admits its not setup tuning where the difficulties lie but that the engineers are “wrestling” with the car, the source of there underlying lack of performance.
“Now, trying to solve this sort of complex issues and trying to understand complex limitations is our core business. So as much as it feels bad when you are at the back of the top teams right now, that’s precisely what the whole company is set up to do, to get to the bottom of complex limitations like that, and bring development that can mitigate them and improve.
“It feels bad now, but I have full confidence that that’s exactly what our team is very good at.” These are not the word’s of someone who appears remotely hopeful presently.
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Pressure from Austria building on Mekies
The Red Bull Racing empire has undergone a massive change since the departure of Horner. Gone are the marketing and PR teams which sat within the business and they have been replaced by suits in Salzburg at the Austrian HQ of the energy drinks company.
TJ13 reported yesterday that a number of long standing and senior engineers are leaving the organisation too, one citing a “souring culture” driven by the corporate types at GmbH. Oliver Mintzlaff responsible for the outing of Horner is now in control of all things Red Bull sport related and his management style is one dimensional – PRESSURE.
Red Bull languishing down in sixth place in the championship will not go down well with Mintzlaff and the rest of the Austrian overlords. Mekies is certainly under pressure to deliver, but it appears his engineers who are left don’t understand the problem never mind beginning to find solutions.
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NEXT ARTICLE: Lewis Hamilton not pleased with Ferrari at Suzuka: “It was pretty bad…”
Last Updated on March 30 2026, 4:58 pm
Record world champion finishes sixth in Japan – Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time world champion, was left searching for answers after a frustrating Japanese Grand Prix. Despite briefly running in podium contention, he finished only sixth. The Ferrari driver appeared perplexed after the race at Suzuka, having started strongly before fading in the closing stages.
“It was pretty bad in the end because I was in third place and ended up in sixth,” Hamilton admitted. “I just need to understand where we lost the power, especially in the second stint.”
It was a race that promised much, but ultimately exposed Ferrari’s familiar weaknesses, particularly with regard to their outright pace over a full race distance….. CONTINUE READING
A.J. Hunt is Senior Editor at TJ13 and a career journalist with experience in both print and digital sports media. Having trained in investigative journalism and contributed to several European sports outlets, Hunt brings rigour and polish to every article. His role is to sharpen analysis, check facts and ensure TJ13’s daily output meets the highest editorial standards.
