Verstappen puts Red Bull under pressure: long-standing problem must be resolved

On Saturday after qualifying, Verstappen was strikingly critical of his team. The Dutchman complained about a lack of top speed, difficulty getting the tyres into the right operating window, and also stated that in his view Red Bull had no answer to the problems he was feeling in his F1 car. He made it clear that he had little confidence in the chosen setup beforehand.

Verstappen also spoke of a problem that he says has existed for years: a bouncing car that simply doesn’t feel right, especially on certain circuits. He pointed this out again this weekend, and a solution does not yet appear to have been found, at least not one that doesn’t make the car slower, according to Mekies.

“The guys are doing all the analysis in the world back at the factory to try to come up with a solution that not only fix the issues, but fix the issues by bringing lap time,” Mekies answers GPblog's question in Montreal. “Because it would be probably quite easy to fix the issues, but it would make the car slower. So you want to fix the issues and to bring lap time.”

The Frenchman acknowledges that it’s a difficult technical issue, but at the same time emphasizes that Red Bull remains confident in the development process. “It's a complex issue. We love complex issues. we have plenty of them,” Mekies laughs. “And I'm confident that, in the same way that we have cracked quite fundamental issues since the beginning of the season, we will be managing to do a few more.”

During qualifying, Verstappen could already be heard on the team radio saying he wasn’t comfortable with the chosen setup. Afterwards, he also said that he asked multiple times what was going wrong with the car, but received little feedback from the team. Mekies confirms that Red Bull deliberately took risks in Canada with different setup directions, split between the cars of Verstappen and Isack Hadjar.

"We take risks every time we don't feel we are at the right balance or at the right gap to competition. And when you do take risks like that, you do explore set-up directions, with both cars, we are lucky enough to have two drivers that were in the right rhythm this weekend, so we could explore with Max and with Isack. And that's what we have done," he explains.

According to Mekies, it’s not just about qualifying performance, but especially about better understanding the car for future races. “Then we improve our understanding of the car, what is working, what is not working, what is bringing something for qualifying, what is bringing something for the race. That's the beauty of parc fermé as well.”

After Verstappen’s comments, it was suggested that Red Bull deliberately went against the four-time world champion’s preferences. Mekies denies this and emphasizes that Verstappen remains fully involved in all decisions regarding the RB22’s setup. “Absolutely not,” he responds when asked whether the team deliberately chose a different direction than Verstappen wanted this weekend. “As much as it feels different. as it may have felt different, the reality is that our drivers are completely integrated in the choices we make.”

He does acknowledge, however, that there are strong internal discussions about the car’s development. “It doesn't mean that we don't have our own little game of saying, ‘what do you think?’ But in the end of the day, we agree on what to try. And then after some time, there is a bit of: ‘I told you so.’"

According to the Red Bull team boss, that dynamic is precisely part of developing a competitive Formula 1 car. “But we still learn together, and what is clear is that both sides are very conscious that you need that dynamic and you need that 'I told you' feeling sometimes, in order to progress,” he concludes with a nod to Verstappen’s critical comments earlier this weekend.