Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies has revealed how Max Verstappen has spearheaded what he describes as a “quite spectacular” progress from the Formula 1 team.
The Milton Keynes-based squad has seen stupendous form across recent races, with Verstappen taking dominant victories at both Monza and Baku.
In Singapore, the Dutchman was unable to secure a third straight win, but given the RB21’s lack of performance on high-downforce circuits, second place was deemed a success.
It has already been vocalised by those within the team that since Mekies’ arrival in place of Christian Horner, there has been a change in dynamic and culture, in which people such as Verstappen are freer to have input on the set-up.
Mekies alluded to this after the race, telling media including Motorsport Week that Verstappen has been a focal part of the team’s drive towards the top again.
“I think everybody has been working extremely hard in Milton Keynes, from race one to now, and never giving up on trying to unlock the potential of that car,” he said.
“It is fair to say that the progress in the last few weeks has been quite spectacular.
“And it’s credit to everyone, again, back at home, who have never given up.
“It’s credit to Max, who has been, with his sensitivity, pushing us to explore different avenues.
“Finally, we found an avenue that unlocked a bit of performance.”
Red Bull ‘looking forward’ with newfound knowledge of RB21
Verstappen was rueful of the fact that, with now more knowledge of the car having been gained, there may have been time to have found this form earlier.
But Mekies was quick to dismiss the prospect of putting too much emphasis on hindsight.
“There is no single silver bullet,” he highlighted. “There have been a good flow of updates. There have been different ways to run the car.
“Altogether, it seems we have a competitive package on most tracks.
“But it’s very difficult to wind back and say ‘with the upgrades at the beginning of the year, where would you be?’
“We are not looking back, we are looking forward.”
READ MORE – Lando Norris highlights factor that makes McLaren F1 title retention more impressive
Discussion about this post