Red Bull have no doubts over who sets the outright benchmark for 2026
Red Bull CEO and team principal Laurent Mekies believes Mercedes are currently the outright benchmark on the grid.
“I would say these three guys are, we think, a fair bit ahead of everyone else.”- Laurent Mekies
Speaking at the press conference on day one of week two of Bahrain testing, the Frenchman said he believes the Silver Arrows are out in front, with Ferrari and McLaren also sitting slightly ahead of the RB22.
“We see Mercedes being the fastest team right now. It’s a bit of a guessing game. I was questioning the guessing game of my colleagues. I’m not going to enter the game myself.
“We think Mercedes Ferrari, McLaren are probably the guys that are — the three of them — a fair bit faster than us right now. Telling you by what amount or in which order is probably too difficult, but that will be my guess right now. But the guess will change.
He finally added: “We will all evolve our car. We’ll all start to optimize what we have and things will move again. But I would say these three guys are, we think, a fair bit ahead of everyone else.”
Russell smashes Verstappen's benchmark in new race simulations
Week two of Bahrain testing is underway, and the opening day saw teams across the paddock begin to push harder. Russell emerged as the benchmark on outright pace, setting the fastest lap of the day.
Mercedes also impressed over longer runs, eclipsing the race-simulation reference set by Verstappen last week and further highlighting the W17’s increasing adaptability across varying conditions.
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