Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies believes the team will struggle at the start of the 2026 Formula One season, but “eventually come out on top”.

Red Bull finished third in the Constructors' Championship last season, but will have a new challenge awaiting this term as they begin their new engine partnership with Ford.

There has also been a change in drivers at Red Bull, with four-time world champion Max Verstappen now partnered by Isack Hadjar, who has been promoted from junior team Racing Bulls.

Although Mekies anticipates a slow start to the 2026 campaign, he insisted that they will grow stronger as the season progresses.

“Starting from scratch, going into the first year, going to the first race soon, and thinking to be straight away at the level of the competition, who have been doing it for 90 years some of them, would be naive,” said Mekies.

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“We know it's going to be with a fair amount of struggles, headaches, sleepless nights. We will go through the struggle.

“We will eventually come out on top. Bear with us in the first few months.”

Verstappen will be hoping that the new changes will help him deliver a fifth world title for the team after finishing two points behind McLaren’s Lando Norris last year.

The first race of the 2026 F1 season takes place in Australia on March 8, and will be followed by the Chinese and Japanese Grand Prix before the end of the month.