Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has lifted the lid on the mindset driving his team's recent resurgence, and it's pretty eye-opening. Even though Max Verstappen has been racking up victories lately, winning back-to-back races in Malaysia and Singapore from pole position, plus taking the F1 Sprint at Marina Bay, some of the crew at Milton Keynes remain unsatisfied. It sounds wild when you're winning races, but Mekies reckons that's exactly what keeps Red Bull sharp and hungry for more.

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The hunger makes sense when you consider where Red Bull have been this season. They've had some absolutely rough days early on. The Chinese and Japanese Grands Prix were proper dark moments for the team, with Verstappen struggling massively. At Shanghai he was over a second down in the sprint and nearly a second off in qualifying. Things got so bad at Suzuka that the 26-year-old was even talking about walking away from the sport entirely. That was just seven months ago, so the turnaround has been genuinely impressive.

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What's eating at the staff now though isn't about performance on track. It's that Verstappen isn't fighting for a championship. For the first time since 2020, he's not in a title battle. He's currently fourth in the standings heading into the United States Grand Prix, and that's something the team simply can't get their heads around. Mekies explained to Corriere della Sera how his engineers react even to race wins. They'll congratulate you for a victory and then immediately pivot with a big 'Yes, but...' followed by a list of things that need fixing.

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Red Bull's determination to improve despite recent success shows in their approach to the final races of 2026. They're already making risky design choices to put themselves in a stronger position for 2027. Verstappen re-signed through 2030 over the summer break, recommitting to the team just as their form started clicking. Mekies isn't getting carried away about fighting for next year's title, but it's clear the internal culture at Red Bull means nothing short of championship glory will satisfy them long term.

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