Red Bull just dropped a bombshell on Max Verstappen fans, and it’s not the news anyone wanted to hear heading into the summer break. The team’s boss, Laurent Mekies, has now confirmed that the championship fight everyone dreamed of isn’t happening this season.
In a candid new interview, Mekies admitted Red Bull is officially turning its attention toward 2027, meaning the all-out development war they waged last year is off the table. It’s a major shift in strategy that could change everything for the reigning star driver.
Verstappen has been clawing his way back with three podium finishes in the last four races, but that elusive first win of the season is still slipping through his fingers. Right now, he sits 110 points behind championship leader Antonelli, and the mountain looks steep.
The funny thing is, this time last year, Verstappen was also more than 100 points off the top. He then staged one of the most incredible comebacks in recent memory, finishing the season just two points behind champion Lando Norris. But Mekies made it clear that kind of late-season surge won’t be happening again in 2026.
Speaking to De Telegraaf, the Red Bull boss explained that the situation is completely different from 2025, when the team was fighting for the title until the very end. Now, after the summer break, most of their energy will go into building next year’s car. Updates will still come, just nowhere near the volume fans saw last season.
When asked if Verstappen can still win a race this year, Mekies didn’t shy away. He believes the Dutchman absolutely can, pointing to Austria where the gap was much smaller and Hungary where only Norris was out of reach. He also reminded everyone that the team has already closed a significant chunk of the deficit since the start of the season.
Mekies didn’t sugarcoat the struggles either, admitting the first half of the year was a bit of a rollercoaster. He credited the challenge of integrating their own engine as a major reason for the early setbacks, calling it a long-term investment that will eventually pay off. For now, though, the focus is on podiums and progress, not championships.
So while Verstappen keeps pushing for wins, the bigger picture in Milton Keynes is clearly pointing toward the future. The question now is whether the three-time champion is willing to wait that long to fight for another title with Red Bull, or if the clock is already ticking on a bigger change behind the scenes.
