Laurent Mekies says Red Bull will deep-dive into data and run wind-tunnel and simulator work during the April break to start bringing improvements for the Miami Grand Prix, but cautioned that closing the substantial gap to Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren won’t be instantaneous.
Red Bull’s early form in 2026 has been poor. Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar have not finished in the top five in any race or sprint after the first three rounds. The team is sixth in the Constructors’ standings on 16 points. China marked a step back. Japan brought only a small lift, with Verstappen eighth and Hadjar 12th at Suzuka.
Mekies outlined a clear plan for the five-week window. Engineers will run a deep analysis of on-car data gathered across the opening flyaways. The team will try to reproduce what it finds in the wind tunnel and on the simulator. The goal is to test sensitivities across a range of set-ups and parts. The work targets two main areas. One is front-to-rear balance, which has limited confidence. The other is power-unit reliability, which has hindered race execution.
He set expectations for the pace of recovery. The gap to the front is large. Red Bull’s short-term aim is to return a car that Verstappen and Hadjar can push without sudden losses in performance. Only then can the team measure the true deficit under race conditions and map a path to cut it over time.
The calendar gives Red Bull a clear checkpoint. The team returns to the track in early May for the Miami Grand Prix, the first U.S. round of the season. Mekies said Miami will offer the first meaningful read on whether the development direction is working. The car will carry the first steps of what has been modeled in Milton Keynes. More updates are planned through the year as data loops from track, tunnel, and simulator converge.
The focus now is process and correlation. Red Bull will compare run plans across different ambient and track conditions to validate its models. If Miami confirms the trends, the team will scale parts and set-up concepts across future rounds. If not, the expanded data set from the break should still narrow the search. Mekies kept the message steady. Gains will come in stages, not in one jump.
For Verstappen and Hadjar, a more stable balance and clean power delivery would mark progress. That would help race pace and tire management and allow simpler strategy calls. Red Bull sees the April break as the start of that reset, not the finish line.