After showing encouraging pace in Austria, Red Bull struggled to match the front-runners at Silverstone, where the RB22 once again exposed its weaknesses on high-speed circuits.
Max Verstappen’s podium finishes in Canada and Austria have been the team’s brightest moments in an otherwise inconsistent 2026 Formula 1 season.
Mekies admitted the characteristics of Spa-Francorchamps are likely to present many of the same problems Red Bull encountered at Silverstone.
“It’s a good representation of the complexity of where we are with these cars,” Mekies said.
“In Austria, we were fighting for the win, and just a few days later at Silverstone we were hitting some strong limitations that stopped us from getting everything out of our package.”
He explained that Red Bull’s biggest challenge comes at circuits where energy management plays a major role.
“Yes, we think it’s compounded at a track like Silverstone, where it is energy-starving and we seem to be struggling more,” he said.
“So, on tracks where energy limitations are strong, we seem to be struggling more compared to the competition, and in that respect, I’m afraid Spa-Francorchamps is probably in that category as well.”
Despite expecting another difficult challenge in Belgium, Mekies stressed that Red Bull has no intention of giving up. Instead, he believes every race provides valuable lessons as the team continues developing its own power unit in its first season.
“It doesn’t mean that we give up and turn the page,” he said. “It means we need the knowledge to improve. It’s about improving in every area, and that’s what we try to do every day.”
Mekies is confident the engineers will continue finding solutions, even if progress comes in small steps.
“We’ll need to use this weekend to make a small step forward at these sorts of tracks, I hope, for Spa-Francorchamps, and I trust that the team is learning very quickly,” he said.
“It is still the first year with our own power unit, and we are going to get around this sort of energy-starving track.
“There may be hardware limitations, but I know the team is extraordinary at learning fast, so I hope we can be in slightly better shape at Spa-Francorchamps.”
While Mekies expects Belgium to provide another stern examination, he is optimistic that the following race in Hungary will suit Red Bull’s package much better.
The Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps takes place from 17 to 19 July before Formula 1 heads to the Hungarian Grand Prix the following weekend.
