McLaren does not underestimate Red Bull
From the poker of teams that consistently competed for podium places in 2025, Red Bull has detached itself, certainly not starting the new regulatory cycle well: the Milton Keynes car has major chassis problems and is currently closer to the midfield package than to the top positions. Max Verstappen’s impatience with the new regulations also stems from this lack of competitiveness, but team principal Laurent Mekies has repeatedly expressed optimism about the team’s ability to recover ground.
Read more Engines, more thermal power and larger batteries are being evaluated: “Discussions underway”
Not even rivals write them off. Indeed, McLaren CEO Zak Brown, who dethroned Red Bull in 2025, believes that rivals will soon return to competitiveness and looks forward to fighting against Max Verstappen again.
Brown’s words
“It would be really foolish to write off Red Bull, the other teams will improve quickly. We know how quickly this sport can change“.
“They kind of have to do a small reset. They’ve lost a lot of people, like Christian Horner, Jonathan Wheatley, Gianpiero Lambiase, Adrian Newey. Since I arrived, most of their pit wall staff has changed,” he added. “I appreciate Laurent, I think he’s doing a great job. He’s technically competent, he’s young and he has to rebuild the team, replacing the people he’s lost. I have no doubt he’ll succeed: just like McLaren did, I think Red Bull has immense talent that just needs to be unleashed. They were dominant until recently, so the team has a lot of talent, Laurent just needs to redirect it“.
Read more Marko: “Not everyone would have psychologically survived Jos Verstappen’s training”
