Red Bull reveals stark 'one second per-lap' deficit to Mercedes

Red Bull believes it is on pace with McLaren but lagging behind both Mercedes and Ferrari at the start of the 2026 Formula 1 season.

After being knocked out in Q1 following a massive crash, four-time world champion Max Verstappen charged from a P20 start to finish sixth in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Verstappen came home just behind McLaren’s reigning world champion Lando Norris, but was nearly a minute adrift of George Russell, who headed a Mercedes 1-2 ahead of the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.

Isack Hadjar qualified third on the grid and was running competitively towards the front before in an impressive start before he was forced to retire when his Red Bull power unit failed.

Red Bull’s performance in Melbourne matched the ballpark prediction of where it expected to be after pre-season testing ins Bahrain.

“We did predict that we would be the fourth [fastest] team coming out of pre-season testing,” Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said. “As it turned out I think it’s pretty accurate.

“It was probably a touch better this weekend in the way that Isack was P3 on the grid. He’s done a very good job there to optimise everything. In the race, it’s probably fair to say that we were at least on pace with McLaren, but certainly not able to fight with Ferrari or with Mercedes.

“It’s something we are aware of. We have the ambition and the duty to build a path to go and get these guys. It will take a bit of time but it was not a surprise.

“In terms of the gap to Mercedes, after pre-season testing it was very difficult to evaluate because we knew some games were being played to hide pace. So I would not say that we are surprised with the gap we see here. It’s probably also what we felt we would end up having to deal with.”

Asked what Red Bull’s realistic current deficit to Mercedes is, Mekies replied: “It was probably close to a second a lap, I would say.”

Red Bull proud to be ‘in the fight’ with new engine 

Red Bull has undertaken a mammoth challenge in producing an in-house power unit for the first time in its F1 history.

The performance and reliability of the 2026 Red Bull engine impressed rivals during pre-season, and the Milton Keynes squad is delighted to be “in the fight” at the start of F1’s new era of regulations.

“The dominant feeling is that we have confirmed that we are in the fight,” Mekies said. “We are very proud of everyone in Milton Keynes for the work done in the last few years, for the work done coming into this season.

“To be able to be in the fight, straight away, from race one, I think it’s a huge achievement. We have the ambition and obligation to do better, yes, but the starting point to be fighting here, P3 yesterday and P20 to P6 today.

“We still will be fighting in China and then we will start the development race. We will start the learning race. You have seen how things are imperfect over the race weekend, many people complained yesterday in quali that you could not optimise your lap because it was difficult session to session, run-to-run, to nail everything out of these rules.

“So that’s a challenge that we have to embrace, and it’s the same in the race. The bottom line is we were in the fight here and we will be in the fight hopefully next week and then after we need to develop faster than the competition as well.”

But Mekies was quick to lower expectations that Red Bull could be a world championship contender this year.

"No, that’s not what I’m saying, I’m saying we are in the fight,” he stressed.

“The season is very long and being top four is the right starting point compared to where the project is at. We have the ambition and obligations to target higher.”