Red Bull missed out on its first victory of the 2026 season by the narrowest of margins in Baku, but team boss Laurent Mekies had no regrets over the strategy that left Max Verstappen just 0.196s behind George Russell at the checkered flag.
For much of the 51-lap race, the team allowed Verstappen and teammate Isack Hadjar to run in formation, with the latter seemingly faster than the Dutchman at one point thanks to a tyre advantage.
But Red Bull resisted the temptation to swap the order. Instead, the pair raced on, banking on a Safety Car eventually reshuffling the strategic picture.
Red Bull refuses to play the team-orders game
Mekies insisted the decision was anything but passive. According to the Red Bull boss, the team had worked through the available scenarios before deciding that maintaining the running order offered its best shot at exploiting a late-race opportunity.
“We looked at all these scenarios, honestly, and then we elected to hold the car in those positions,” he explained after the race.
“Both drivers have been very good at being disciplined with that. Big well done also to Isack who has raced very cleverly to make sure we get the best team result.
“We felt it was the best chance to get a chance at Piastri and at Russell. It's very difficult here not to count on a safety car at some stage. We were all waiting for the safety car.
“Max was struggling with the medium at that stage and we knew that on the soft we would have a better chance. Ultimately, that's what happened.
“We are missing one tenth but we got a chance to fight with him and show we had the same pace.”
The strategy ultimately left Red Bull tantalisingly close to a breakthrough victory. Verstappen was unable to overturn Russell’s advantage in the closing stages, but the team emerged with its strongest combined result of the campaign.
‘Our strongest weekend this year’
For Mekies, however, the more significant story was the sudden transformation in Red Bull’s competitiveness.
Verstappen had been a constant threat throughout the weekend, while Hadjar delivered an impressive third place to complete a double podium that would have seemed difficult to imagine earlier in the season.
“[Max] was flying all weekend. He was very, very strong all weekend. Probably our strongest weekend this year,” Mekies said.
“We finished one tenth away from the win after 51 laps so I think that's what it is. But it was good to have the car P2 and P3 on merit.
“A huge well done to everybody back in Milton Keynes. We had our upgrades here, it was a massive work everybody, chassis side and PU side, to extract more out of the package.
“It felt very far away the beginning of the season when the guys were lapping a second faster than us - and we are in that fight now. So a big well done to everyone.”
Read also: Hadjar savours ‘real first’ podium after impressive Baku returnThe near-miss in Baku therefore gave Red Bull rather more than two podium trophies.
After struggling to match its rivals at the start of the year, the team suddenly had a car capable of taking the fight to Mercedes, while Mekies left with no regrets about allowing Verstappen and Hadjar to remain where they were.
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