Max Verstappen’s shot at 5th F1 title to blame for Red Bull disaster

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen’s shot at 5th F1 title to blame for Red Bull disaster

Has Red Bull's title push hurt them?

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Friday 10 April 2026 08:27

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Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has answered the question everyone's been wondering: Has last year's F1 title fight push with Max Verstappen harmed their chances this year?

Verstappen's name wasn't even in the mix when it came to the F1 title during the first half of the 2025 season, with it being a two-horse race between McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

Nearly 100 points adrift of Piastri by Zandvoort, the four-time champion nearly ended the season as world champion, and while he beat the Aussie, he was just two points shy of eventual world champion Lando Norris.

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Behind the scenes Red Bull underwent dramatic changes in 2025, with Christian Horner's exit announced in the summer and Mekies assuming the role of team principal.

It was then, after the summer break, that saw Red Bull's upwards swing in performance that allowed Verstappen's return to the championship fight, but at what cost?

Mekies: We pay the price today

The 2026 season is the first year the all new cars and regulations will be in action, with Red Bull and their brand new power unit getting off to an inauspicious start in Melbourne which has only continued to spiral downwards.

Red Bull are below Haas in the constructors' standings and with balance issues to contend with (alongside rumours Verstappen will retire), the picture is altogether rather bleak at Milton Keynes.

But Mekies believes in his team, and whilst he admitted that putting their energy into 2025 has harmed their 2026, he still believes that Red Bull can rise again.

During an interview with Tom Clarkson on the F1 Beyond the Grid podcast, the host asked Mekies directly whether Red Bull were paying the price now for placing all their eggs in the 2025 basket.

Mekies replied: "We thought, and we still think it was the right thing to do because we felt that turning the page to '26 would have been a little bit of an easy escape and a wishful thinking that next year will be better even though we didn't fully understand what were the limitation of '25.

"We didn't think it was the right way. Now, of course, the time and energy we invested for the late push last year, does it have an impact on where you start '26? Of course, it does. So of course we pay a bit of the price today.

"Do we use it as an excuse? No. We are not happy with the starting point, but we think we will get through these difficulties as we did last year, we will get the full understanding of of the limitations.

"This team has been very, very good in turning things around and we have another chance to do it this year."

F1 Red Bull Max Verstappen Laurent Mekies