McLaren CEO Zak Brown has warned that it would be very foolish to write off Red Bull despite their poor start to the 2026 Formula 1 season. Red Bull sits sixth in the standings after three rounds with just 16 points, while McLaren holds third place. Brown predicts teams will converge as they adapt to new regulations.
Red Bull has struggled at the outset of the new regulation cycle, slipping into the midfield. Max Verstappen, yet to score a podium, expressed frustration as his team trails leaders by significant margins. The grid spread widened dramatically, with Q1 gaps at the 2026 Australian Grand Prix reaching 3.737 seconds, up from 1.235 seconds the previous year in the same session there. McLaren leads the convergence trend, having overcome early ground-effect era woes to secure titles in 2024 and 2025, Brown noted ahead of this weekend's Miami Grand Prix. McLaren sits third with a 30-point lead over Red Bull and 44 points clear of eighth-placed Audi, which Brown praised for a strong start. Red Bull dominated 2023 with 21 wins from 22 races and a record 860 points, but rivals outdeveloped them as the era progressed. Key departures included designer Adrian Newey to Aston Martin, Jonathan Wheatley to Audi, and upcoming moves like Gianpiero Lambiase to McLaren. Laurent Mekies replaced Christian Horner as team principal midway through 2025, following Helmut Marko's departure. Brown advised Red Bull to reset after losing personnel. “They have to kind of do a little bit of a reset. They lost a lot of people: Christian, Wheatley, GP [Lambiase] eventually, Newey,” he said. He commended Mekies as technical and capable of rebuilding the team, unlocking its existing talent much like McLaren did previously. “It would be very foolish to write Red Bull off,” Brown emphasized, expecting the competitive order to consolidate over time.