Red Bull Racing failed to live up to expectations in qualifying at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. How is it that Mercedes seemed to have made strides, while Red Bull fell back during qualifying? Peter Windsor analyses Saturday's session on his YouTube channel.
"I think Mercedes took pole because they got it right in qualifying. If Red Bull hadn't touched the car, they probably would have conquered Mercedes," explained Windsor.
The analyst thinks Red Bull removed some wing from Verstappen's car to achieve a higher top speed. This would not have happened with Perez, which could explain the smaller difference in lap times between the teammates. "As a result, Red Bull lost the 'sweet spot' in terms of grip," the Brit revealed.
Windsor explains Red Bull problem
"They were exactly where they needed to be with the limit of the car and top speed. That was the perfect compromise for the Mexican circuit," he continued. Windsor does understand why Red Bull made the choice to change Verstappen's setup. "Verstappen is tremendously good at dealing with all the variables, so they must have thought he could drive around that adjustment," he said.
Verstappen does not expect to run into the same problems in the race, something Windsor agrees with. "In the race it will be a different story though, then Max will just be there again," the analyst concluded.