Mekies after qualifying Miami: 'Heading in the right direction'

Published on 03 May 2026 by Niels Hendrix

Laurent Mekies, CEO and team principal of Oracle Red Bull Racing, reflected on the Miami qualifying: “Today was certainly a step in the right direction and a great performance from Max and our team. There has been some amazing work done across the board in the factory, both on the chassis and PU side. Everyone has been working flat out to get to the bottom of what was limiting us so thank you to everyone for pushing so hard over the five-week break, so we could find this lap time and bring a better performance to Miami.”

Mekies continued: “Max’s performance today was really strong and he was fighting for pole during qualifying. With Isack, we're not yet in the position where he can really push the car but it was also a good effort from him. We don’t think we have fixed everything we need to fix, but we are certainly heading in the right direction based on what we have seen this weekend. We know we need more of that and we will take take all the opportunities tomorrow to keep improving.”

Check the Max Verstappen Miami Collection, with T-shirts, hoodie, sweater, shorts, cap, bucket hat, drink bottle, mug, tote bag and scale models (1:2 and 1:4) of Max's special Miami helmet: https://store.verstappen.com