Red Bull sees Monaco chance after 2026 breakthrough

Red Bull heads to Monaco saying its first podium of the 2026 season in Montreal was evidence that recent progress is starting to bring the team back toward the front. Max Verstappen said the team made “positive steps forward” in Miami and that “the pace is a lot closer to where we need to be” as Red Bull arrives at one of its strongest tracks on the calendar.

Verstappen said the gains were not just visible on the stopwatch. He said Red Bull had been “able to extract a better performance from the car” and that he felt “more comfortable,” while stressing that the team would “keep pushing as there are always things we can improve and work on.”

That matters in Monaco, where small gains can have an outsized effect over a weekend dominated by track position. Verstappen said the race “is always reliant on good strategy” and that “it will be key to get the best result in Qualifying,” putting the emphasis squarely on Saturday as Red Bull tries to convert its recent step forward into another major result.

There is also history on Red Bull’s side in the Principality. The team has won seven times in Monaco, including three straight victories from 2010 to 2012 through Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, then another three-race run from 2021 to 2023 through Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

Still, Red Bull is not presenting Montreal as proof the job is done. Ben Hodgkinson, Technical Director for Red Bull Powertrains, said “Formula 1 is all about winning,” but described the result in Canada as “this first podium finish powered by our own Power Unit,” calling it “definitely something worth celebrating” because of “the scale of what's been achieved in such a short space of time.”

Hodgkinson said Red Bull Ford Powertrains is “a newcomer” going up against “some of the biggest names in the automotive industry and in motor sport,” and said fighting with them near the front was something “the entire team can be proud of.” But he also made clear where Red Bull still stands, saying “there's still a long way to go” and that the gap to the front-runners is “significant.”

For Monaco, that leaves Red Bull with a clearer but still demanding target. The team believes it is moving in the right direction, Verstappen says the car is behaving better, and the first podium of the season has given tangible backing to that view. The next test is whether those gains are now strong enough to deliver the qualifying performance Monaco usually demands and bring Red Bull closer to its first win of this new era.