(Motorsport-Total.com) – Max Verstappen was once again close to securing his first race win of the 2026 Formula 1 season on the Madrid circuit in Spain. In the end, the Red Bull driver was only beaten by Andrea Kimi Antonelli in a fiercely contested race. With second place, the Dutchman at least secured his sixth podium finish in the current championship. How competitive the Bulls were was already shown on Saturday: In qualifying, Verstappen was only 0.140 seconds behind polesitter Lando Norris.
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Team principal Laurent Mekies highlights the progress the team has made over the season: “First of all, that was a strong performance – whether it was the best of the year, I don’t know, but certainly the best in a long time. It is a good confirmation of the pace we had in Monza.”
“To be so close to the fastest car in Monza, to Kimi – and also again today: Yesterday we were only one and a half tenths off pole on a significantly more complicated track,” Mekies continues. “On a completely different track with extremely varying cornering speeds. So it was extremely encouraging to have such a small gap on such a circuit.”
Qualifying and race solid
After the motivating qualifying, the four-time Formula 1 world champion followed with an equally confident race, even though he is still waiting for his first full success in 2026. “And today in the race, in my opinion, the same picture emerged. To be fair, Kimi was of course faster than us in the race,” Mekies admits honestly.
“And probably Lando was faster in the race as well. But we are not talking about a huge gap here, rather about one or two tenths. So it is definitely a clear improvement compared to Zandvoort a few weeks ago and probably also compared to Budapest or Silverstone. That is positive,” the Red Bull strategist is pleased.
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Nevertheless, Mekies makes it unmistakably clear: “Regarding the question of whether we could have won the race: No, I don’t think we could have won. Firstly, because they were simply faster. Secondly, because the people in the pit wall, in my opinion, did a first-class job – as painful and difficult as that decision was at the moment.”
Pit wall: The win was not possible
Mekies refers to the key scene in which Verstappen lost a lot of ground: The champion had to voluntarily give up two places to avoid an impending time penalty. The Red Bull strategists preempted the race stewards and did not even wait for an official instruction – much to Verstappen’s annoyance.
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“They analyzed the situation as soberly as possible and made a quick, uncompromising decision,” Mekies stands behind his team. “And I think it would have been extremely difficult to avoid a penalty, as frustrating as this situation is. But I think that would have been hardly possible. And once you pick up five or ten seconds, it can ruin a race in many ways – but it certainly doesn’t put you in a better position than second place.”
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