Red Bull had been struggling with a lack of grip, concerns voiced by both Verstappen and teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

After a discreet performance in Sprint qualifying and in the race, the woes came to a head when at the end of Q1 Verstappen was eliminated in P16. After which the team decided to take the car out of Parc Fermé, make modifications to the setup of the car and fit in a new power unit as well.

The end result was another epic drive that saw Verstappen go from the pit lane to the podium despite being hindered by a puncture in the early stages of the race.

Speaking in the Red Bull hospitality in Brazil, Mekies highlighted the setbacks as part of a learning process that brought out the mettle of all the areas of the team, that forced the team into pulling apart the car and building back up a total of three times.

"No, you do gain a lot [from the difficult moments]," Mekies said. "You learn a lot more in the dark moment of the qualifying last night than in any other moment, let alone the changes and the three different cars."

Conceding that the set up changes had been implemented thinking more performance would be available for the drivers to extract, the Red Bull team principal acknowledged the mistake in their initial assessments, and praised the team for their key role in the revival.

Mekies continued: "In moments like that where you clearly miss it, we don't go there by luck or by mistakes. We go there because we feel there is a chance that it's better. And when it's obviously not better, Ii's in this moment that the guys are fantastic both here and at the factory Milton Keynes.

"They are asking the difficult questions. They are questioning what they read. They are questioning why. And that's the sort of moment that you make steps perhaps not immediately. but you develop a new way of looking, you develop a new way of analyzing, and as a group you make steps forward," Mekies concluded.

Verstappen revealed he urged Red Bull to monitor Gabriel Bortoleto before the Brazilian reached F1. Bortoleto, blocked at McLaren by Norris and Piastri despite winning the F2 title, joined Sauber (soon to become Audi).

Asked about a future Red Bull pairing, Verstappen said he hopes Bortoleto gets a competitive, podium-capable seat within three to four years, ideally in the same team so both can fight at the front. Read Verstappen's comments more.

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