Team Principal Laurent Mekies believes that Max Verstappen’s return to the podium at the Canadian Grand Prix was the result of Red Bull’s bold risk-taking, but also recognised that there is still plenty of work needed to close the gap to the frontrunners.
The Milton Keynes-based outfit claimed their highest finish of the season as Verstappen crossed the line in P3 after losing out to Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps, while his team mate Isack Hadjar was a lap down in P5.
Although the positive result hides issues the team encountered with reliability and bouncing, Mekies explained that it also demonstrates that the step forward they took in Miami can be considered permanent.
“Big picture, I see at the very least we confirm the Miami steps,” he told press after the race on Sunday. “I think we’ve done a bit more than the Miami step in the way that I think we have managed to take a little bit of performance away from the top guys.
“Just looking at the lap time now, it was three tenths [Saturday] in Qualifying, but I think today we were a bit closer than the half a second deficit that we had in Miami. In Miami we finished 40 seconds from the win. So, I think it was a bit closer here now.
“There is probably no reason to get too excited in a way that you could also have a track layout effect, a track that could be forgiving for certain aspects of the car. But I think at the very least, again, we confirm Miami.
“I think the guys managed to get something more. And if you consider that the competition had another floor update this weekend, I think it’s just confirming that we are going in the right direction with the development.”
After Saturday’s Sprint, in which Verstappen placed seventh after being unable to outpace the Ferrari pair up ahead, the Dutchman conceded that the team couldn’t “make it worse” when asked about set-up ahead of Qualifying.
The changes Red Bull did make proved to be the right ones as Verstappen found himself improving from P6 to P2 during the Grand Prix, benefitting from McLaren’s unsuccessful gamble of starting on intermediate tyres as well as George Russell’s retirement.
Despite settling for third as Hamilton fought his way past late on, Mekies explained that Verstappen’s first podium of the season was a credit to Red Bull’s willingness to make risky decisions.
“It was a lot less straightforward than Miami,” he explained. “I think as soon as we are in a situation where we don’t feel Max and Isack are not at ease to push, we take risks. That’s what we’ve done last year.
“That’s what this team has been doing for a number of years. That’s what we’ve done this weekend. So as soon as we are there, we are going to try things. It’s only the beginning of the year. It’s the beginning of this generation of cars.
“We are going to try things with our drivers to unlock something, even if it’s costing us something. And you learn. You learn for the Qualifying conditions and for the race conditions. So a lot of learning this weekend. How far are we from the ultimate potential of the car here? Nobody really knows.”
While the four-time World Champion ended his weekend on a high, Hadjar did not quite feel the same as he was handed two penalties – a 10-second time penalty for a late defensive move, and a stop-go penalty for failing to slow sufficiently under yellow flags.
The 21-year-old recognised that his mistakes prevented him from competing for a better result, but Mekies was nevertheless pleased with the learning opportunity they can take into the upcoming races.
“Getting drivers to be happy with the car is a very difficult game,” the Team Principal summarised. “You know, Max was extremely unhappy with the car [on Saturday].
“And Isack did a very, very strong race, but also had the feeling that he could have done much better, which is, for us, just another invitation to explore even more, to take more risks, to accept the pain, because if you take risks, you will get the pain.
“And it’s to get our drivers pushing us to say, look, yes, it may be only four or five tenths off the best cars, but it felt like it could be much better. It’s only an invitation for us to keep taking risks and keep exploring.”
