Laurent Mekies was full of praise for Max Verstappen in the wake of the Dutchman’s third Grand Prix win of the season in Italy, calling the four-time World Champion’s drive “perfection” as he celebrated a victory for the first time as Red Bull Team Principal.
With Verstappen on pole at the Temple of Speed, hopes were high of a strong result, but Red Bull were wary of the race pace of McLaren. The papaya team tend to perform even better on Sundays than Saturdays, and also are strong in hot conditions.
With the sun beating down at Monza, Mekies believed Verstappen would have his work cut out to keep Lando Norris and Oscar Piatsri behind – and yet, the opposite was true as Verstappen went on to claim victory.
“Max did just a perfection, perfect weekend,” Mekies said afterwards. “Such a strong weekend, it put us there. We were not anticipating to have a pace advantage in the race, but it turned out to be the case.
“We were expecting a defence race and trying to work out scenarios on how to defend against these guys. And ultimately, we had a pace advantage today. Certainly, Max has done an amazing job and it’s a good sign.”
Last year, Verstappen finished sixth at this race and his then team mate Sergio Perez took eighth, but Red Bull worked hard on their low downforce configuration in the off season and improved massively as a result.
“So last year was a very difficult point and the guys did an amazing job analysing last year, coming here with a very specific solution and it seems like they have overshot the target,” joked Mekies. “Meaning the car was actually in a much better window compared to the other tracks.”
Mekies admitted that part of Verstappen’s success this weekend was due to the engineers finding a way to run the car lower, with the Dutchman working hard with the team to come up with solutions that ultimately bought him the pace he needed to win by a handsome 19 seconds.
“Obviously, the [rear] wing is working well. On top of that, it is fair to say that on Saturday we have tried to step down with Max at the very end of FP3. And whilst it looked a lot more difficult to get the balance right with that lower level, Max has been very strong and good at pushing us to keep it on the car and to find other solutions to give him the balance back.
“And the guys have been doing an amazing job in managing that,” Mekies explained, before admitting that the team “didn’t expect” quite the level of dominance on show.
There was only one nervous moment for Red Bull – on the opening lap when Verstappen cut across the chicane, with the team ultimately asking him to cede the lead to Norris. The Dutchman complied cleverly, ensuring he kept in DRS range of the McLaren.
He was able to attack and retake the lead soon after, and from that point on never looked back. But at the time, the decision to ask Verstappen to give up a lead to a car that has been ultra-quick all season could have backfired.
“I think it’s always a case-by-case basis,” Mekies added. “And the guys on the pit wall did a very good job at making their own assumption of the situation. And it’s a difficult decision at that moment, as you can imagine, to ask your drivers to give the lead back.
“Especially as, at this very moment, you have no idea if you are going to have a pace advantage or not. So, it may as well be your win getting away from you. But nonetheless, it was felt that we should be giving the position back, not to risk a penalty.
“That’s what we have done. Max has been unbelievable in being able to attack back Lando and pass him. And as it turned out, he put our mind at ease after a few laps.”
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