Red Bull send emphatic 'don't sign up' message amid F1 resurgence

Laurent Mekies insists Red Bull does not "sign up for anything other than winning races" in F1 after the Milton Keynes-based team endured a winless first half of the F1 season.

It is the first time the six-time constructors' champions has gone into the summer break without at least one victory since 2015, and it is the first time Max Verstappen has failed to triumph in the opening part of the year since 2017.

However, despite the difficult start to the campaign, Mekies was keen to stress the rapid rate of improvement the team has delivered, with the RB22 going from over a second adrift of Mercedes' front-running pace to only a few tenths of a second.

Red Bull started the season fighting in the lower reaches of the points, against Haas and Alpine, but is now in the hunt for podiums, against its more familiar rivals McLaren and Ferrari.

"We don't sign up for anything other than winning races," the Red Bull boss told media, including RacingNews365, when asked if he would have signed up for the team's current position given how the opening rounds of the year unfolded.

"But I have to take the opportunity to say 'well done' to our people, chassis side, power unit side.

"Because turning around from starting from 1.2 seconds [adrift], finishing three tenths away halfway through the season with this level of competition...

"And you have pointed out where we started, and I think we know why we started there, when we put things in perspective with the late push of last year and with the power unit adventures.

"But I have to say, everyone on the power unit side, chassis side; some lap time progressions have been brought through updates. Some other lap time progressions have been brought through a lot of people in the background.

"Our 2,000 people have been working to bring a little bit more to every single area. Some of them you never hear about, but they put us back in the position where we are now fighting every race for the podium."

Since Verstappen claimed his first podium of the campaign at the Canadian Grand Prix, which was the fifth round, the Dutchman has secured a further three trips to the rostrum over the following six events, showing a clear uptick in form.

And whilst the team has developed the RB22 well, victories remain elusive, for the first time in over a decade.

Mekies, meanwhile, is adamant that there is no pleasure to be gleaned until Red Bull recovers to race-winning contention consistently.

He added: "Don't count on me to say that we are satisfied because we are not, because we will not be satisfied until we go back to having a race car that has a face to win on merit."

Do you think Max Verstappen will claim a victory in the 2026 F1 season? Let us know by voting below in the latest poll by RacingNews365!