Max Verstappen says the way Red Bull has worked to close the gap with McLaren has given him a better understanding of the team’s cars and performance.
Red Bull struggled in the middle of the season, with Verstappen scoring just one podium (2nd place in Canada) in the seven races before the summer break. However, since his return at Zandvoort, the Dutchman has won two of his four races and finished second twice, and believes team principal Laurent Mequise has been part of his extensive recovery.
“I think Laurent is probably too kind in that sense,” Verstappen said of the Frenchman, whom he describes as having zero influence on him. “But at the end of the day, what’s really good is that we’re approaching it as a proper team effort.
“We always tried to look at the details. We tried to understand what our weaknesses are. And from a few races ago, it’s definitely improved a lot.”
“Maybe[Singapore]wasn’t as good as the previous race weekend, but sometimes when you finish a race you don’t really know why or how and you get a little lost. I think now we understand why and how we can be better. And by asking the right questions, we’re working well, including Laurent’s involvement in that.”
Verstappen is confident in Red Bull’s understanding of his car, but warns that the RB21 has its own strengths and weaknesses, so it won’t always be strong at every circuit.
“We were more competitive[in Singapore]but I still think it’s not our preferred layout. But maybe other tracks will be a little more favorable to us, so we just have to take it race by race.”
Mekies, along with other team members, praised Verstappen’s recent progress, particularly as the team started moving closer to the drivers’ championship again without having to cancel the season.
“I think at Milton Keynes, from Race 1 to now, everyone has worked extremely hard and never given up on trying to unlock the potential of the car,” Mekies said. “It is no exaggeration to say that the progress we have made over the last few weeks has been very impressive and this is also a credit to everyone back home who never gave up.
“Max is credited with pushing us to explore different avenues with his sensibilities, and we finally found a way to unlock a little bit of performance. There’s no one silver bullet, so we had a good flow of updates. There were different ways to run the car.”
“Overall, it looks like we have a competitive package for most trucks. But it’s very difficult to rewind and say, ‘Where are you with the upgrades at the beginning of the year?’ We are looking forward, not backward. ”