Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies explained what surprised him and the team the most about its Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix victory – the dominant nature of it.
The Milton Keynes-based squad claimed just its third win of the season at Monza, with Max Verstappen taking the chequered flag by nearly 20 seconds from Lando Norris.
It was the team’s and Verstappen’s first win since F1’s last visit to Italy – the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix back in May.
The dominant fashion of the win was also underlined by the fact that, at one hour, 13 minutes and 24 seconds, it was the fastest Grand Prix of all time, beating the previous record, set by Michael Schumacher at Monza in 2003, by nearly a whole minute.
Verstappen led away from pole position, but briefly conceded the lead to Norris after the Dutchman took to the run-off area at the Rettifilio chicane on the first lap to avoid contact.
But one lap later, Verstappen retook the lead from the McLaren man and never looked back, cementing a commanding victory.
When asked about the first corner incident, Mekies praised the team on the pit wall for making the decision to order Verstappen to cede the place to Norris.
“So I think it’s always a case-by-case basis,” the Frenchman told media including Motorsport Week. “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.”
Mekies intimated he was initially concerned that it may hamper Verstappen’s chances of victory, but once he built a huge gap upon overtaking Norris, he felt confident of the win.
“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 and pass him. And as it turned out he put our mind at ease after a few laps.”
Red Bull ‘didn’t expect’ dominant Italian GP victory
Verstappen took pole – the fastest lap by average speed in F1 history – on Saturday, stealing it from the McLarens late in Q3.
Given the dominant nature of McLaren’s season this year, it was prudent to feel a likelihood that both Norris and Oscar Piastri would pose a considerable threat to Verstappen come race day.
But Verstappen rubber-stamped his authority with the victory and the way in which it was won, something that surprised Mekies and the team, who expected a “defensive race.”
“No, we didn’t expect that,” he said. “So it was good to be fundamentally less than a tenth ahead of McLaren in quality.
“That’s what yesterday’s picture was. And all our numbers were telling us that normally in the race they have a bigger advantage than what they have in qualifying.
“So we were expecting a defence race. And trying to work out scenarios on how to defend on these guys. And ultimately we had a pace advantage today.
“Certainly Max has done an amazing job and it’s a good sign. After all the hard work put into the race pace.
“Every weekend you get a difficult result on the race pace compared to your qualifying pace. It’s a lot of hard work from everyone in the factory.
“And today it seemed like we had an advantage compared to them, which is great.”
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