Photo: Race Pictures

Was Horner the reason for Red Bull's woes, rather than Perez or Lawson?

15:07, 23 Sep

Updated: 16:53, 23 Sep

byNorberto Mujica

Yuki Tsunoda's improvements in recent times was marked by his highest ever finish for Red Bull Racing during a Grand Prix with a P6 in Azerbaijan, citing the team's support in making the necessary changes as a reason for his upturn.

Yuki Tsunoda finished P6 in Baku. Photo: RacePictures.

Also something internally supported by the team to make changes to the car, which affected a lot in this long run today.

- Yuki Tsunoda

Going over the race, Tsunoda looked back and saw an opportunity missed by Red Bull that could've seen him finish in the top 5 ahead of Liam Lawson.

"I think also in the second stint, unfortunately, probably if I had been able to rejoin two minutes faster, I would've been able to keep them behind," Tsunoda said after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Nevertheless, the Japanese driver is happy with his result, complimenting the team for making the necessary changes for his driving potential to be converted into a points finish.

"Still overall, I'm happy with it. The team did a fantastic job with the strategy. I think something I was able to improve into this race week, especially long run, was massive."

Tsunoda then thanked Red Bull for internally supporting said changes, indicating he had asked for them himself, which suggests this may not have been done in the past, under ousted Christian Horner's leadership.

"Also something internally supported by the team to make changes to the car, which affected a lot in this long run today."

Marko's compliments for Mekies reveal Horner's lackings

When Max Verstappen won the Italian Grand Prix, Red Bull's top advisor Helmut Marko spoke very highly of the Austrian team's new Team Principal and CEO, Laurent Mekies.C

Citing the improvements to the atmosphere within the team, the 81-year-old also referenced a change in the way the engineers operated under Mekies, by listening more to the drivers, instead of just "blindly" following the data, suggesting the opposite was taking place under Horner's command.

So, in the end, it wasn't Pierre Gasly, Alexander Albon, Sergio Perez or Liam Lawson after all? Did it all come down to Horner's data-based leadership style? One thing is for certain, under Mekies everyone at Red Bull seems to shine.

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