Max Verstappen from the perspective of Red Bull Racing boss Mekies: “Only he can do that”

The encouraging news is that Max Verstappen finished second in the Hungarian Grand Prix after a magnificent drive. The sobering reality is that the four-time champion repeatedly complained over the radio about his car, clearly dissatisfied with the RB22’s handling.

Nevertheless, the 71-time Grand Prix winner manages to secure one top result after another from what is generally the fourth-best car on the grid. Red Bull Racing team principal Laurent Mekies commented in *De Telegraaf*: “I wouldn’t go so far as to say that a narrow operating window is a hallmark of Red Bull Racing’s cars, but it’s true that we’ve seen this characteristic in various models over the past few years.”

“But we must also note in this context that Red Bull Racing has won many championships with this type of car. It perhaps stands out more today because we are the hunters rather than the hunted.”

“I’m convinced that Max Verstappen’s sensitivity and skills enable him to spot problems that other drivers wouldn’t notice – and which aren’t picked up by other teams’ data either. I don’t think Red Bull has any greater problems with tyre wear than the competition; we simply have a driver who is better at recognising it. Only he can do that.”

Former F1 driver Martin Brundle had this to say on the subject of tyre wear: “What struck me at the Hungaroring was that Verstappen spent much of the race complaining about poor handling – or, more specifically, what he described as ‘aerodynamic loss’.”

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“I wanted to find out a bit more about that, so I spoke to a few people. I was told that when the Red Bull Racing car sustains damage to its aerodynamic parts – particularly underneath the car, for example following an aggressive kerb ride – this has a disproportionate effect on the overall downforce and, consequently, on grip. That’s what lies behind Max’s comment about aerodynamic degradation or car wear.”

Laurent Mekies again: “It’s a fact that Max senses things that we cannot measure with our current data analysis and the sensors in the car. That’s down to his exceptional sensitivity in the car and the technical expertise he possesses.”

“To give an example: Max sensed early on this year that there was a minor problem with the steering, and we couldn’t detect it from the data. But thanks to him, we were able to fix it.”