Laurent Mekies was stuffed with reward for Isack Hadjar after he certified within the prime three on his Red Bull debut, offering a excessive level on a tough first weekend of the season for the group.
Although there was a large hole of 0.785s to polesitter George Russell, Hadjar impressed in his first Qualifying hour for the Milton Keynes-based squad, particularly as his group mate Max Verstappen was knocked out in Q1 after crashing when his rear axle locked up.
Starting third behind the 2 Mercedes automobiles, Hadjar misplaced a few positions within the first stint of the race – with Mekies later confirming that the Frenchman had a battery subject – earlier than he was compelled to retire on Lap 11 as smoke billowed from his RB22.
Despite the DNF, the group boss was obsessed with Hadjar’s general efficiency, particularly given the challenges thrown up by the all-new 2026 automobiles and energy items.
“He had a incredible weekend,” Mekies said. “Coming right here, [he had] pretty restricted mileage in testing, with a little bit of lack of luck there. And he got here right here from the very first lap in FP1 on Friday on the proper tempo.
“We had been capable of break up the testing programme between the automobiles and get double the quantity of data. He went to Qualifying with every little thing that [is entailed for] a primary time Qualifying with these guidelines. Absolutely nailed it. Put the automobile in P3, which might be as excessive because it may have been on Saturday.
“So, you know, hats off, really. And today, he was on his way to have a mega start before he realised we didn’t have the battery charge.”
With Verstappen securing P6 after charging from twentieth on the grid, the 58-lap race at Albert Park gave Red Bull a lot to digest within the few days earlier than the Chinese Grand Prix as they settle for that they’re at an obstacle in comparison with Mercedes and Ferrari.
“In the race, it’s probably fair to say that we were at least at the pace of McLaren, but certainly not able to fight with the Ferrari or with the Mercedes,” Mekies admitted. “It’s something that 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.”
Meanwhile Verstappen insisted after the race that he does not feel “concerned” in regards to the deficit to Mercedes regardless of crossing the road 54.617s behind winner George Russell.
Mekies echoed the sentiment, concluding: “The dominant feeling is that now we have confirmed that we’re within the struggle. We are very pleased with everybody within the group for the work executed within the final three years, for the work executed coming into this season to have the ability to be within the struggle right away from Race 1.
“I believe it is an enormous achievement. Do now we have the ambition and the duty to do higher? Yes, however the place to begin is that we had been preventing right here – P3 yesterday, P20 to P6 in the present day.
“You have seen how issues are imperfect throughout the race weekend. Many folks complained yesterday in Qualifying that you possibly can not optimise your lap as a result of it is successfully troublesome session to session, run to run, to nail every little thing out of those guidelines.
“That’s a challenge that we have to embrace, and then the same in the race. There has been a lot going on, but the bottom line is we are in the fight here, we will be in the fight in the top four hopefully next week, and then after that we need to develop faster than competition.”
