Red Bull’s performance at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix may have represented its best chance to win a Formula 1 race in 2026, Max Verstappen said, while team principal Laurent Mekies saw reasons to expect a few more opportunities before the season ends. The team’s pace in Baku, supported by its final major upgrade package for the RB22, brought Verstappen close to victory, but he said unresolved car issues and a planned Mercedes upgrade could make future wins harder to achieve.

Verstappen made his assessment on Friday at Red Bull’s hospitality in Baku, where his Dutch-language media session involved two Dutch journalists. He said the city circuit offered the team its strongest opportunity of the year, adding: “We’ve done a great job messing it up.” The following day, he finished 0.196 seconds behind George Russell, although Verstappen considered that margin somewhat misleading because Valtteri Bottas had crashed and Russell had experienced a boost issue.

Red Bull’s race pace was strong, particularly on soft tyres. Its speed came in part from performance on the longest straight in the Formula 1 calendar, and in part from the upgrades introduced in Baku. The package was the last significant one planned for the RB22 and included a new floor and revised sidepods; both Red Bull drivers said it delivered the expected gains.

The changes also improved how the drivers felt in the car on the Baku layout. Isack Hadjar described the circuit as unusual because of its surface and said the car’s balance through corners felt promising from the first lap of Friday’s first practice session. “Baku is a very specific track, with specific tarmac, but the way the car was behaving in terms of through-corner balance this weekend, from lap one in FP1, I was like, 'Okay, this is looking pretty good',” Hadjar said.

Hadjar said Red Bull remained behind Mercedes on the power-unit side, but that the car’s braking and handling had improved compared with the previous race in Budapest. That event was the last one before his wrist injury. “Then the second half of the car [the power unit], we’re definitely lacking compared to Mercedes. But in terms of handling on the brakes, the car was definitely a step better than in Budapest,” Hadjar said. “So, yeah, I’m really pleased with that [feeling in the car].”

Verstappen also felt the balance had come together better, giving him confidence to attack Baku’s corners. “Yeah, I mean, it’s a unique track. It has mainly 90-degree corners, but it probably felt a little bit more together balance-wise,” the Dutchman said. He was satisfied with the performance items introduced for the weekend, but stressed that other problems continued to cost the team lap time.

Those problems include car degradation and the deployment of electrical power from the power unit, which Verstappen said was not optimal compared with Mercedes. “But like I said, we have other issues in the car that we really need to fix because there is just free lap time in that. That’s what we are working on. But the performance items, they worked well and we’ve been fairly happy all weekend with what I had from the car,” he said.

The technical team led by Pierre Wache developed the Baku upgrade, which worked as intended, but Verstappen still viewed the circuit as Red Bull’s most favourable setting for a win this year. The track suited the car’s characteristics, and Mercedes is expected to bring a long-awaited upgrade package for its W17 at the Malaysian Grand Prix. An ADUO power-unit upgrade is also in the pipeline.

“If they’re bringing an upgrade to Malaysia, then it’s going to look a little bit more difficult for us,” Verstappen said. “If Mercedes is bringing an upgrade and it works, then they’ll take another step ahead, and that’s not what you want. It will make it even more difficult to win, but we’ll try every single weekend and, of course, if the opportunity is there, we go for it.”

Mekies, asked by Autosport whether he shared Verstappen’s view or drew confidence from the race pace, said both interpretations could be right. He agreed that Baku had likely suited Red Bull’s car best on paper, while the team’s performance in the race suggested that it could have a couple of other chances before the end of the year.

“I think both statements are correct. I think it's fair what Max is saying in terms of assessing this track as, on paper, the one that was favouring us the most. So I think that is correct, it has probably been the most favourable track for us in terms of car characteristics,” Mekies said. “Equally I think that the performance we've shown in the race is giving us decent hope that we will get another couple of occasions before the end of the year.”

Mekies said Red Bull’s remaining weekends will serve a purpose beyond pursuing its first win of the season. The team wants to use races at circuits that expose its weaknesses to keep improving, with the aim of building a car that can compete consistently at the front in 2027. Verstappen has said several times that some larger changes needed for a championship challenge next year are no longer possible during the 2026 season.

“On top of getting a couple of other occasions to get that first win, it's also good to go to tracks where it's going to be more difficult for us, because that is exactly what we need to be confronted with to continue to progress,” Mekies said. A winless season would be notable: it would be the first year without a victory since 2015 for both Verstappen and Red Bull.

Based on reporting by Autosport.