Red Bull targets pace to keep Verstappen

Ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said the team’s answer to speculation over Max Verstappen’s future is simple: make the RB22 fast enough to keep him.

Mekies insisted the noise around Verstappen and the wider driver market has not changed Red Bull’s approach, even with the four-time world champion contracted until the end of 2028 and with performance-related clauses that could allow an earlier exit. Rather than trying to talk down every rumor, he said Red Bull’s priority is to improve the car.

Speaking ahead of the final race before Formula 1’s summer break, Mekies described the market activity as normal for a top team with the grid’s standout driver. “It is working in both directions – it is completely natural that Max gets a call from everyone, because he is the best driver in the world, and equally if you are a top team, you are going to get calls from many of these good drivers around as well,” he said. “Is it a distraction for us? Not really. The full focus is on getting that car as fast as it can [be] and then you will keep your best driver in the world.”

That focus also shapes Red Bull’s plans for its lineup. Mekies said Verstappen and Isack Hadjar are “the ideal pairing,” with the team doing “everything” it can to keep them together.

He pointed to recent signs of progress as evidence Red Bull is moving in the right direction. After a significant RB22 update introduced at the Austrian Grand Prix, Verstappen returned to the podium twice in the last three races, despite retiring at Silverstone because of a rear-wing problem. Mekies also highlighted Hadjar’s rise, including sixth place in Belgium from 21st on the grid, which extended the Frenchman’s top-six streak to six races.

For Mekies, those results matter because they show Red Bull has reduced a much larger problem. He said the team started the season more than a second off the pace and is now chasing only “the last two or three tenths” needed to reach the front consistently.

“The best way to put an end to the subject is to go and get those two or three last tenths,” Mekies said. That leaves Red Bull’s Verstappen story tied less to contract language than to whether it can find the final performance step in the RB22.