Mekies after qualifying in Japan: 'We have a lot of work to do'

Published on 28 March 2026 by Julien Lemmen

Laurent Mekies, team principal and CEO of Oracle Red Bull Racing, reflects after qualifying in Japan: "We have a lot of work to do and are far away from where we want to be. It has been difficult for both drivers. It has been a battle for them around this track and some of the difficulties that we are facing are not too different to some of the issues that we had in China."

Mekies continues: "Thank you to everyone back at the factory who is working hard at understanding the root causes of our limitations and working to find the right solutions for it. It might take a bit of time but the route forward is to take a deep dive, understand what is limiting us and come back stronger. For tomorrow, the focus for us is to continue to learn. We’ll use all the data we can get and come up with more development. We will have some time after this weekend to work on and adjust further development on the car."