Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies has revealed that Max Verstappen made a crucial strategy call which contributed to his Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix win.
The Dutchman took a dominant victory in Baku, maintaining the lead at lights out and securing a lights-to-flag triumph.
Verstappen’s victory showed that his commanding win from in Monza was not a one-off, and shows a significant sign of improvement from the team.
As the season has unfolded and Red Bull management has changed from Christian Horner to Mekies, the team have slowly managed to unlock performance that’s enabled these wins.
Mekies told Sky Sports F1 that it was in qualifying around Baku where the team first saw a payoff from their work behind the scenes.
“I really want to say, you know, as you say, such a masterclass in qualifying yesterday, you know, a huge gap in super difficult conditions with the wind blowing at 60 km/h,” he said.
“And today, you know, it was difficult to estimate the race pace.”
For the Red Bull team, Mekies admitted it was a morale boost, especially after finding success in such a unique track like Monza, unsure it would transfer over to Baku.
“Nobody really did some long run on Fridays,” he said. It just pulled away, lap after lap. So, we knew after Monza, you know, Monza is so specific, it was not so clear, you know, how much of the progress we could bring on a track like here.
“So, it’s good feedback for everyone that has been pushing so hard in Milton Keynes to get the car faster.
“We know Baku is also very specific with only slow-speed corners, but certainly, you know, it’s two tracks in a row where at least we have the pace to fight.”
While the result marks two strong weekends in a row, Verstappen and Red Bull are setting their sights on the Driver’s Championship, the gap to Oscar Piastri is now sitting at 70 points.
Mekies cautious about Red Bull title prospect, reveals brave Verstappen tyre choice
Mekies was coy about heightened debate about Red Bull’s chances of a late push for the title,
“We did say quite a few races ago, you know, we want to take it race by race. We don’t want to leave any stones unturned when it comes to the 2025 campaign.” He said.
“We know it didn’t start the way we all wanted, but ultimately, everybody has been pushing so hard to step by step bring that car back into competitiveness.
“That’s how we will use the next races. Of course, championships for the manufacturers are open now for second and third place.
Beyond the championship, Mekies also took the change in fortunes as an opportunity for the team to learn and begin to understand the car better.
“But even more important than that, we fight to get more and more learning, to unlock more and more understanding because it’s things that we will carry to next year, even if the regulations are completely different.”
Verstappen chose to begin the Azerbaijan GP on hard tyres, risking a slower start to give himself the advantage of waiting for a potential Safety Car.
Mekies divuldged that the decision was largely down to Verstappen’s own thoughts.
“You know, Max pushed us for that,” he confessed. “Honestly, we knew it was not so much about, you know, knowing which tyres is better than the others.
“You have seen yesterday, six or seven red flags in qualifying. So we knew it was a race that could be dictated by when the Safety Car would come.
“We sort of knew that, you know, we would drive to when the Safety Car comes. We tried to stay out.
“Max has been pushing a lot to say, well, you know what, if we drive to wait for the safety car to come, then we want that tyre.
“It comes with other risk. He was very convincing in saying that it will deal with the other risks.”
READ MORE – Max Verstappen dominates F1 Azerbaijan GP as Oscar Piastri crashes out on opening lap
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