Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies believes the unique challenges of the Mexico City Grand Prix could shake up the competitive order, whilst also revealing when the team’s new wind tunnel is expected to become operational.
Speaking during Friday’s press conference following FP1 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mekies acknowledged that Mexico City’s high altitude presents an unusual challenge for teams, with power unit performance and cooling requirements potentially playing a significant role in the weekend’s competitive order.
With the circuit located more than 2km above sea level, the thinner air creates additional demands on power units and chassis, forcing teams to make compromises to ensure reliability.
“I think there have been no unforeseen issues so far related to the altitude,” Mekies explained when asked if elevation had made any significant impacts on Red Bull‘s power unit.
“In fairness, we did have a PU issue with Isack [Hadjar] this morning and lost a bit of track time. The guys did a very good job and managed to send him back on track, but that was not linked with altitude.”
The Frenchman suggested that the conditions could lead to a different competitive picture compared to previous rounds, although he admitted it was too early to establish whether Red Bull would benefit.
“Both in terms of PU for the altitude and with all the compromises we are all having to make on the cooling side, we expect that this race could be a one-off in terms of pecking order.
“We don’t really have an idea whether we will have an advantage or a deficit this weekend. Only time will tell. But there is a fair amount of lap time, both on the PU side and the chassis side, that is in the game this weekend.”
Mekies reiterated that teams will need to balance performance against reliability, with the true impact of those compromises unlikely to become clear until later on in the weekend.
“In many respects everybody will not be operating at the optimum this weekend – PU side for the altitude, chassis side for the temperature. We are all ready to make some compromises to make sure our car can survive and our PU can survive in these conditions.”
Mekies provides update on new Red Bull wind tunnel
Looking further ahead, Mekies also provided a long awaited update on Red Bull’s new wind tunnel, which is expected to replace the team’s ageing facility in Bedford.
The new state-of-the-art facility, which is being developed at Red Bull’s Milton Keynes headquarters, is an important step in the team’s longer-term development plans.
Mekies confirmed that the facility is expected to become operational at some point during 2027, with its impact more likely to be felt during the latter stages of development of next year’s car and throughout 2028.
“As much as the wind tunnel we are using has ultimately been producing extraordinary results over the last few years, it is most likely the oldest one on the grid,” he explained.
“As a result, if you jump to a state-of-the-art facility, of course you expect a competitive advantage from there. It’s not going to come as soon as we switch everything on, but it’s certainly going to unlock potential and give the talented people we have in the aero department another way to express their ideas.”
Asked about the timeline, Mekies added: “It’s not ready yet. It’s something that will come online sometime during next season. Is it the first quarter, second quarter or third quarter? We will see. But it will be based on how much time we need to complete the calibration work and get it online first. So, it will most likely be for the second half of the 2027 car and hopefully for most of the 2028 car.”
The update follows comments from Max Verstappen, who has previously highlighted the limitations of the current facility.
Speaking to Viaplay in September, the four-time World Champion joked about the age of the existing equipment, comparing it to a wind tunnel “that comes from World War II”, before adding: “Of course you hope that as a team you can make a step there as well.”
Whilst Mekies acknowledged that improvements would not arrive immediately, he remains confident that the upgraded facility will offer Red Bull a competitive advantage as the teams looks to strengthen its position in the coming seasons.
