RacingLaurent Mekies did not dodge it. The Red Bull team principal said the team "paid the price" for doubling down on 2025, a gamble that almost carried Max Verstappen to a fifth title but has left the RB22 off the pace at the start of 2026. Verstappen missed the 2025 crown by just two points to Lando Norris. Now, under new rules, Red Bull is chasing.
Mekies laid out the rationale. After the summer of 2025, he and his engineers studied where the car fell short and chose not to "turn the page." They kept pushing the RB21 with bold upgrades deep into the run-in, convinced the late surge could swing the title. It nearly did. But in a budget-cap world, that call had a cost. Hours, staff and money that would have gone to the 2026 car and the Red Bull Powertrains-Ford program were instead tied to 2025 fixes.
The hangover is clear on track. The RB22 arrived heavy, with balance swings that leave drivers chasing a stable window, and early reliability gremlins that cut into mileage. Pace has not matched the front. Mekies connected all of it to the choice to keep pouring effort into last season’s fight. He framed it without regret, just cause and effect under tight financial rules.
The near-miss proves why they went for it. Verstappen’s late 2025 charge, built on those final RB21 upgrades, put him within a whisker of the title. Two points decided the season against Norris. Those gains were real, but they pushed development debt into a regulation reset that punishes any delay.
So Red Bull has flipped into recovery. "We are in attack mode," Mekies said. The team is bringing a substantial upgrade package targeted for Miami, with smaller steps arriving sooner as parts clear quality checks. The first wave focuses on trimming weight and tidying up airflow-sensitive components to calm the car’s platform. They also have short-term reliability fixes ready in parallel. He warned that deeper trade-offs may follow, because some of the weight and stability issues are baked into core architecture. Those would take longer to unwind.
The backdrop makes the climb steeper. Rivals invested in new tools and wind-tunnel gains through the last cycle, and they did it while Red Bull split focus. On top of that, 2026 is the first season for Red Bull’s self-built power unit with Ford. Standing up a new engine operation inside the cap magnifies every choice. Small delays cascade into lap time.
Mekies’ message was straight. The strategy almost won them 2025, then it bit them in 2026. Now the job is to close the gap fast enough to keep this title fight alive.