Laurent Mekies admits Red Bull must improve second car as Isack Hadjar gets full support

Red Bull Racing team principal Laurent Mekies has detailed how the Milton Keynes outfit will support Isack Hadjar in his first season with the team.

The French-Algerian driver impressed during his rookie Formula 1 season with Red Bull sister team Racing Bulls, which secured him the seat alongside four-time champion Max Verstappen for 2026.

Red Bull has not shied away from making bold driver decisions in recent years. After replacing Sergio Perez for the 2025 season, Liam Lawson found himself demoted after just two race weekends. While Yuki Tsunoda stayed with the team until the end of the season, he has now been moved to a reserve driver role for 2026. 

Speaking at the Autosport Business Exchange London, Mekies, who replaced Christian Horner as Red Bull Racing CEO and team principal in July 2025, discussed how he will support Hadjar during his first season with the outfit.

"At first, we are not hiding behind the fact that we need to do a better job with that second car, and that includes the second part of last year. Yes, we've made some progress with Yuki, but not at the level that we felt we should have reached. So we are aware that we need to do a better job there.

"There is no easy solution. It's a complex equation that we approach as such. Now, I think Isack comes with incredible speed. We think the level at which he started last year, starting speed was outstanding. At the level of the very best.

"But then we equally believe that the big guys, the champions - not only do they have an incredible starting point, but they progress. It's not only progressing with the maturity or with your dialogues with the engineers, they actually go faster."

Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Laurent Mekies, Red Bull Racing Team Principal

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Acknowledging the regulation changes, Mekies said: "[Isack] would not like what I'm going to say, but I guess in some respects, the fact that everything's changed in 2026, he's also [been] given a reset about how you go about extracting as much as you can from the car.

"He has been taking it from day one with maximum intensity. He has moved to London."

The team chief added: "He's fully aware of the challenge. He has his feet on the ground. He's a very humble guy, and we are going to support him 360 [degrees] to make sure that he can express his talent in that car."