Red Bull did not try to sell Max Verstappen on a short-term performance fix during the August talks that tied him to the team through 2030.

Team principal Laurent Mekies has now spelled out what the pitch did and did not include, and his line is that this was never about a late-season aero breakthrough.

“The short answer is no. We were not waiting for a magic upgrade that was supposed to come and bring us to the performance,” Mekies told reporters when asked whether Red Bull’s Baku package had been part of the sales pitch, according to RacingNews365.

“We knew we had upgrades. We actually knew that Baku would be the last one. At the time we felt we would probably struggle to close those final three tenths. So it was certainly not an argument of negotiation.”

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Pierre and Ben, not Baku

The pitch instead leaned on two in-house projects that run on timelines beyond this year’s car: chassis development under technical director Pierre Wache, and the Ford-partnered power unit programme under Ben Hodgkinson.

“The underlying work happening in Pierre’s team and in Ben’s team, and where we felt there were lap time opportunities and long-term opportunities, but nothing specific to the Baku package,” Mekies said.

Red Bull have already shifted the bulk of their engineering resources to the 2027 car, with Mekies confirming in late September that the Baku upgrade was “most probably our last significant package” of 2026.

A four-year commitment, not a two-year patch

The extension was announced on Thursday 20 August 2026, ahead of Verstappen’s home Dutch Grand Prix, and runs from the end of his previous deal in 2028 through to the close of 2030.

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That previous contract, agreed in 2022, had included performance-related exit clauses that Mercedes was unable to crack during its own pursuit of the four-time world champion. Verstappen’s management also held talks with McLaren earlier in 2026 about a possible 2027 switch, before the Red Bull extension closed those doors.

“To continue this journey with the same team that I have been with my whole career is really special,” Verstappen said on the day the extension was announced by Red Bull.

“Getting to work with Laurent now for over a year has also been great, I see a clear vision he has for the team.”

The gap behind the signing

Red Bull slipped to fourth in the constructors’ championship by late September, with Verstappen 147 points behind drivers’ leader Kimi Antonelli.

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Wache has conceded that the team cannot fix its current car in-season, describing race-pace degradation as “a massive issue” that cannot be fully addressed without hurting overall aerodynamic performance.

What Mekies has now made clear is that none of that was dressed up in the August meetings. The sales pitch was 2027 and the Ford-powered era that follows, not a comeback inside this one.

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