Laurent Mekies: 'That's part of the game'

Published on 19 July 2026 by Johan Peeters

Laurent Mekies, CEO and team principal of Oracle Red Bull Racing, reflects after the Belgian Grand Prix: “A strong weekend for the whole Team. It was good to be in the top three in Qualifying, but it’s even better to be here on race day and have the pace. As we said yesterday, Kimi was probably beyond us today, but behind him Max was right there. He was running well for P2 on merit, then the VSC happened and that cost us. But that’s part of the game. We are happy about our 300th podium, as well as Max’s 130th podium.”

“Isack also showed extremely strong pace, coming through from 21st on the grid to take P6 at the flag. It was certainly his best race with us. It seems like every time he takes another step forward. It’s great to have two very strong cars. The Team back in Milton Keynes and at the track is working incredibly hard on all fronts to bring and unlock more performance and we were able to fight for the podium in the last three races. We won’t stop until we find those final few tenths needed to get back to winning races.”