A Red Bull in the midfield
Having reached the summer break, every team principal must answer a very important question: “How do we allocate resources between the current season and the next?“. The answer very often depends on the progress of the World Championship: for example in 2025 McLaren abandoned the development of the MCL39 early because the Constructors’ title was already won, while the Drivers’ title seemed like an internal two-way battle between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. It seemed, indeed, because Red Bull kept its foot down on development until the last race, and sensationally returned to the race with Max Verstappen. Who missed a historic feat at the expense of the papayas by only two points.
Read more KIA, 14 electric models by the end of the decade
The 2025 chase, inevitably, cost Red Bull something. The Milton Keynes team did not in fact start well in the new cycle of cars and, against all predictions, is failing in what were once its strengths: chassis and aerodynamics. A step back that team principal Laurent Mekies explains precisely with the effort made until a few months ago.
Mekies’ words
“The car was not performing at the level we wanted, the pressure was high and a new team principal arrived mid-year: there were all the reasons in the world to think exclusively about 2026, also because a new generation of cars was starting“, these are the words of the Frenchman. “But none of us wanted to give up, everyone wanted to understand the root of our problems and turn the situation around. Of course, we knew we would pay a price, but this team has a deep fighting spirit“.
Read more Piquet Jr: “Piastri and Antonelli’s rookie seasons? Nothing compared to Hamilton’s”
“It was an easy decision to focus on 2025 again. I had just arrived, yes, but no one wanted to give up. We took a huge risk, but we thought, and we still think, it was the right choice: focusing only on 2026 was an easy way out“, he continued. “It certainly had an impact on 2026 and we are paying a bit of the price for it. But it is not an excuse. We are not happy with where we are but we will overcome these difficulties as we did last year“.
Read more Japanese Vendetta
