Laurent Mekies on second place in Spain: “Best performance in a long time”

Red Bull Racing put in a strong performance in the last two European races at Monza and Madrid. Max Verstappen finished third in Italy and even second in Spain. The Austrians put in a strong performance in the grand European finale, before the team now heads off to the so-called fly-away races, starting with Azerbaijan, Malaysia and Singapore.

Convincing performances at Monza and Madrid

Red Bull Racing team principal Laurent Mekies said after the Spanish Grand Prix: “It was a strong performance. Probably not the best of the year, but it was the best in a long time. It’s a good endorsement of our pace – first to be so close to the fastest cars at Monza, and now to be just one and a half tenths off pole position in qualifying at Madrid on a very different circuit with different characteristics and greater variation in cornering speed.”

Monza, as a high-speed circuit, is an exception on the calendar. The new circuit in Madrid, by contrast, has a hybrid layout with fast straights and 90-degree corners in one section, and tight, slower corners as well as a steep corner in the other part of the circuit. The ‘Madring’ combines many different types of corner and is therefore a more meaningful test for a car.

Mekies recognises a clear improvement

Mekies: “It’s fair to say that Kimi (Antonelli, ed.) was naturally quicker than us in the race. And Lando (Norris, ed.) was probably faster in the race too, but we’re not talking about one or two tenths here. So it’s definitely an improvement compared to our performance at Zandvoort a few weeks ago and probably also compared to Budapest or Silverstone, so that’s positive.”

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli won the Spanish Grand Prix. Lando Norris had started from pole position in his McLaren and would likely have had the best chance of victory under normal circumstances. However, the Briton first had bad luck with the timing of a virtual safety car and then also encountered problems during his tyre change. Both factors combined cost him time – and, in all likelihood, the win. Antonelli and Verstappen both benefited.

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Despite the strong performance, however, Mekies does not believe the pace would have been enough for victory. The engineer said: “Firstly, because the others were faster, and secondly, because I think – as painful and difficult as that decision was at the time – that the lads on the pit wall did a very good job of analysing the situation as objectively as possible and making a quick and decisive decision.” He was referring to the incident right at the start of the race, when Verstappen went off the track following a close battle with Lewis Hamilton and (to avoid a penalty) gave the position back. In doing so, he also let Kimi Antonelli through.

Mekies: “Once you’ve incurred a five- or ten-second penalty, it affects the race in many different ways, and certainly doesn’t put you in a better position than second place.”