Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies continues to downplay his role in the team’s remarkable performance improvement, a stance that Max Verstappen considers to be “too modest.”
Since Mekies took office in July, Red Bull’s performance has undergone a drastic change.
Verstappen achieved a podium finish at the Dutch Grand Prix after the summer break, followed by consecutive victories in Monza and Baku, and secured second place at Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix.
I still think it’s zero, guys. It’s still zero.
Laurent Mekies
After Verstappen’s victory in Monza in September, Mekies downplayed its impact since taking office. Three races later, his opinion hasn’t changed.
Mekies, when asked if he would reconsider the amount of credit he can assume, replied: “I still think it’s zero, guys. It’s still zero,” he told reporters on Sunday night, “And I say that with the same seriousness that I told you after Monza.”Caption: Max Verstappen (left) with Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies (right).
Mark Thompson/Getty Images
“The improvement in performance is basically due to the work of everyone trying to analyze the limitations of the car, race after race. What prevents us from exploiting the car’s potential? How can we add performance to the car? Where do we need to add performance so that it translates into lap time?
“And that work, again, with extremely strong and clear contributions from Max, that work is bearing fruit, which is good news. Because as a group, it simply confirms that we have the best people we could dream of. And we will continue working, we will not stop there.
“We’ll take it again race by race and try to see if there’s more to come.”
The resurgence has led McLaren to label Verstappen as a real threat to Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in the race for the drivers’ title: the current champion is 63 points behind the leader with six races remaining.
Verstappen has already praised Mekies for the work he has done since he was promoted from his former position as head of Red Bull’s junior team, Racing Bulls.
Mekies comes from an engineering background and Verstappen said after the Italian Grand Prix that he had injected a more sensible approach to the way they set up the car.
“I think Laurent is probably too modest in that sense,” Verstappen said on Sunday night when asked about Mekies’ comments.
“But at the end of the day, what’s really good is that we just approach it as a proper team effort. We always try to analyze the details. We try to understand what our weaknesses were. And for a few races now, it has definitely improved a lot.”
“Maybe it wasn’t as good as the previous race weekend, but sometimes you come out of a race a bit lost, not really understanding why or how. I think we now understand why or how we can improve.
“And, yes, by asking the right questions, including Laurent involved in that, it’s simply working well.”
