Laurent Mekies: 'A really solid qualifying'

Published on 25 October 2026 by Johan Peeters

Laurent Mekies, CEO and team principal of Oracle Red Bull Racing, reflects after qualifying for the United States Grand Prix: "A really solid Qualifying from the whole Team, with both Max and Isack in the fight for Pole right up until the final run. Max had really strong laps in Q1 and Q2, but balance just slipped away in the final session, when the wind seemed to pick up and improvements were difficult to find for many drivers on their final laps.” 

“It was a trickier weekend for Isack up until Qualifying, as he had a few adjustments to make yesterday and again this morning. But with his engineers at the track and support from Milton Keynes, he kept chipping away. In Qualifying, he unlocked strong pace, and P3 matches his best Qualifying performance of the season. It will be a challenging race, and I think there are plenty of drivers with a chance of victory, but having Max on the front row and Isack right behind gives us a really good opportunity to be in the right battle tomorrow. Congratulations to Alisha on winning the F1 Academy Championship. This is a fantastic achievement and one she thoroughly deserves after an outstanding season.”