Mekies explains why Verstappen’s ‘milestone’ Bahrain GP victory meant so much to Red Bull

Laurent Mekies has praised Max Verstappen’s “outstanding” performance in the Bahrain Grand Prix that earned Red Bull their first victory of the 2026 season, marking a “milestone moment in the history” of the team.

At the start of the year Red Bull were significantly off the pace set by Mercedes, but their various upgrade packages since helped them to close the gap and eventually fulfil their ambition of returning to the top step of the podium.

A week after he missed out on winning the Azerbaijan Grand Prix by just 0.196s, Verstappen dominated Qualifying in Malaysia to take pole position. He lost out to his Mercedes rivals in the race's early laps before charging back through to seal a long-awaited triumph over Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton.

The result was made even more special as it represented Red Bull’s first win since they switched to producing their own power units in partnership with Ford, giving them their first taste of success since Honda departed the project.

"This is another milestone moment in the history of this team: the first victory for us as a power unit manufacturer with Red Bull Ford Powertrains in its very first season,” Mekies reflected.

“The credit goes to all the people involved who have been working incredibly hard on this project over the past five years. Everyone in Milton Keynes and at the track deserves this moment and should celebrate it as an important step towards many more victories in the future.

"The first win of the season is a great way to finish what has been an extremely successful weekend overall. After showing strong pace in every session and securing our first pole position of the season [on Saturday], Max converted that performance into an outstanding P1.

“In often chaotic circumstances, he remained in control throughout the race, managed the conditions brilliantly, showed the strongest pace and delivered exactly the kind of performance we know he is capable of.

"More broadly, this result confirms the progress we have been making in recent months. We were already close several times, and today we converted that pace. The team has been working tirelessly to improve our package, and weekends like this are the reward for that effort.”

For a large part of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, it looked like Red Bull could secure consecutive double podiums as Isack Hadjar brought himself back into contention after starting in eighth place, but a battery issue restricted him to fifth.

Mekies explained: "There are naturally mixed feelings on the other side of the garage because Isack also showed very strong pace all weekend. We could have rounded off this weekend with another double podium; unfortunately, not everything went well with his car.

“Finishing fifth still represents a strong result considering where he started, but naturally it is frustrating when you know more was possible. We will analyse exactly what happened, take the positives from a weekend where both drivers were consistently competitive, and immediately turn our focus to Singapore.

"However, everyone should enjoy a well-deserved victory and an important milestone for this team."