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Red Bull Overhauls Car Communications in Mexico After Persistent Radio Glitches
Laurent Mekies confirms Red Bull introduced extensive system changes at the Mexico Grand Prix to permanently resolve the communication troubles that hampered Max Verstappen in recent races.
By Michael de Vries - 2026-10-31T11:00:00.000Z - 3 min read
Red Bull has introduced a sweeping series of modifications to its car-to-pit communication systems at the Mexico City Grand Prix, seeking a permanent solution to the radio troubles that disrupted Max Verstappen over the last two race weekends. Difficulties connecting the pit wall with the cockpit hampered operations during the Singapore Grand Prix and persisted through the United States Grand Prix in Austin. Addressing the situation during Friday's official press conference at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, team principal Laurent Mekies confirmed that factory technicians conducted an exhaustive review to eliminate the recurring glitch before track action resumed.
Speaking between the opening practice sessions, Mekies explained that the engineering group deliberately looked beyond quick fixes to overhaul the underlying system architecture. Multiple adjustments were applied to both cars ahead of Friday morning running in Mexico. Although Verstappen did not participate in the opening session, comparative monitoring across both sides of the garage showed an immediate step forward in transmission clarity, encouraging the pit wall that the technical changes had resolved the core reception failures.
"Hopefully, we have a fix for this race," Mekies told reporters during the Friday media briefing. "The guys have been doing a very big deep dive to make sure it's not only going away for a race or two, but to make sure we will also make a step in the quality of our communications. There have been a lot of changes for this weekend. Max hasn't been driving yet, but this morning it was certainly at a much better level on both cars. So, I hope it is definitely fixed now."
The technical push comes in the wake of an underwhelming showing in Texas, where Verstappen took third place after Red Bull had enjoyed consecutive dominant weekends in Malaysia and Singapore. The reigning world champion subsequently described his Austin grand prix as merely average. Rather than defending the weekend's execution, Mekies aligned himself with that assessment, conceding that the squad delivered an untidy Sunday performance and failed to extract the clean operational standards displayed across earlier rounds.
Outright pace also proved problematic at the Circuit of the Americas, where Mercedes and Kimi Antonelli held a decisive upper hand during the grand prix. Mekies acknowledged that Red Bull fell short of its previous performance benchmark on Sunday, noting that while portions of that deficit were anticipated on Austin's layout, the team still identified several operational areas where it could fight back. A revised approach to car execution was promptly targeted for Mexico to counter those competitive losses.
Representative track conditions in second practice provided the first true operational test of the revised radio equipment. Red Bull wrapped up the session with Verstappen fifth fastest, while Isack Hadjar finished sixth in the sister car. The trouble-free running allowed both sides of the garage to confirm reliable audio communication under sustained load, providing the pit wall with a stable operational foundation ahead of competitive qualifying.
With communication clarity seemingly stabilized, Red Bull can turn its attention toward closing the competitive gap to the front of the grid. Clearing the radio faults removes a persistent source of friction from the cockpit, giving Verstappen and his technical crew the clean dialogue required to tackle the setup demands of the high-altitude Mexican venue.