Crimson Bull want a “360-degree enchancment” to have any likelihood of beating F1’s pacesetter Mercedes, group boss Laurent Mequise mentioned.
Mercedes continued their commanding begin to the 2026 F1 season as they dominated qualifying for the Chinese language Grand Prix dash race, with George Russell comfortably main teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
There was an enormous hole between them and the opposite groups, with the closest non-Mercedes group, the McLarens led by world champion Lando Norris, solely six tenths of a second behind Russell’s pole place time.
This comes after Mercedes secured a spot on the entrance row of the grid in Melbourne qualifying and one-two ultimately weekend’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Crimson Bull admitted it must work onerous to shut the hole with Mercedes.
“The hole with Ferrari and Mercedes is kind of huge,” Mekies advised media retailers together with Crash.web on Friday forward of dash qualifying in Shanghai.
“Possibly half the straights and half the corners. There’s not one space that must be improved. It is a 360-degree enchancment. It is not shocking.”
“It may be a growth race. It may be a studying race. So we’re not going to pinpoint any single space by way of the hole with our rivals, however we will have all departments working onerous.”
Requested if Crimson Bull was apprehensive concerning the extent of the benefit Mercedes enjoys, Mekies replied: “Sure.
“There isn’t any query they’re huge, it wasn’t actually a shock. In some way we anticipated them to be very, very robust because the pre-season assessments piled up, regardless that we did not see it straight away within the assessments.
“So the size isn’t a surprise. Alternatively, we anticipate the season to be very lengthy. We anticipate the speed of growth to be a lot increased than prior to now.”
“After all, it is all the time troublesome to get two factors again as a result of clearly they are going to enhance as effectively. However no one gave up right here and that is our battle.”
Crimson Bull’s ‘disastrous’ Friday in China
Crimson Bull endured circumstances on the Chinese language Grand Prix that Max Verstappen described as a “catastrophe” on Friday.
The four-time world champion might solely qualify in eighth place, 1.7 seconds behind Russell, and was additionally overtaken by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.
Teammate Izak Hajar completed tenth quickest as Crimson Bull had simply superior to SQ3 with each automobiles following a scare in Session 2.
Verstappen was dissatisfied with the RB22’s dealing with and efficiency, complaining: “I’ve by no means seen something this unhealthy.”
“The automotive will not be drivable. We had every thing and it could not have been worse,” the Dutchman lamented over the group radio.
Talking to Sky Sports activities F1 after the dash qualifying, Verstappen added: “Tempo-wise it was horrible all day. There isn’t any grip. I feel that is the largest downside, to be sincere. No grip, no steadiness.”
“To be sincere, we’re simply shedding plenty of time within the corners. And naturally that begins to trigger different little issues. However the huge downside for us is that we’re utterly out of cornering.”
Crimson Bull apologized to Verstappen for his disappointing efficiency.
