F1 2026: Max Verstappen's Red Bull boss claps back after Toto Wolff comments

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Max Verstappen's F1 boss claps back after Toto Wolff comments

There has been a lot of verbal sandbagging at F1's pre-season testing

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Sunday 22 February 2026 09:59

Laurent Mekies has responded to comments from Red Bull's rivals during the 2026 pre-season testing that paint the energy drink giants as the ones at the top of the competitive order.

Mekies was put in charge of the Red Bull F1 squad, and therefore of four-time champion Max Verstappen, last summer when long-time team principal Christian Horner was sacked from the role.

As a result, the Frenchman inherited responsibility for Red Bull's first in-house power unit project, Red Bull Powertrains, which had been set up from scratch under Horner's watch.

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Though the project also saw Ford return to F1 as they worked alongside Red Bull on the new engine under the sport's reformed regulations, the reliability of the team's new machinery took their rivals by surprise in Barcelona and Bahrain.

But have Mekies' squad been sandbagging (intentionally playing down their performance) or have Red Bull really got a decent chance of returning to the top of the order in 2026?

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Mekies responds to Red Bull 'benchmark' claims

After Red Bull impressed the paddock with initial testing stints that seemed to demonstrate the reliability of their new power unit, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff claimed that Red Bull were the 'benchmark' for 2026.

But Mekies has clapped back, seemingly in response to Wolff's comments, labelling it as part of a larger game which has been at play in the paddock during pre-season testing.

Speaking in an F1 press conference in Bahrain, Mekies said: "I think there is a good game in the pit lane to try and move the attention on competition and our approach is we try to keep the noise low to concentrate on ourselves."

The Red Bull team principal then clarified his team's place in the pecking order, adding: "We have a huge amount of work to do, we are unfortunately not the benchmark. We have a very high confidence that we are probably trailing the group.

"It's fair to say that yes, probably a fair part of the pit lane was surprised we could run with that level of consistency with the completely new project and again it's something that our people back in Milton Keynes should be proud of.

"The competitive fight ahead is going to be massive and it will take us a lot of time to reach the level we want to reach."

F1 Red Bull Toto Wolff 2026 regulations Laurent Mekies