Red Bull hails Verstappen and Tsunoda as ‘best sensors’ for team

For the first time since May, Red Bull Racing returned to winning ways in Formula 1, with Verstappen triumphing at both the Italian and Azerbaijan Grands Prix.

Yuki Tsunoda also cracked the code of the RB21 on Friday in Baku. The Japanese driver told F1 TV that long runs "now make sense."

Speaking in Baku, Mekies emphasised how crucial both drivers are in extracting the most from the car.

"We are not going to go into much details [about what Tsunoda found] for obvious reasons. But everybody in Milton Keynes has been pushing hard, never giving up on that car to try to see why it was not performing as well as the numbers suggested," he began.

"That includes the drivers in the loop, as we call the simulator. Hence the inputs from Max and Yuki are key and vital to get these steps.

"They are the best sensors in the car and they certainly have contributed a lot to unlock the step in performance we seem to have found in these conditions," the Red Bull team boss explained.

With back-to-back victories, Verstappen now trails championship leader Oscar Piastri by 69 points in the drivers' standings.

About his chances, Verstappen said in Baku: "I don't rely on hope, but it's seven rounds left, and 69 points is a lot. So I personally don't think about it—I just take it race by race, which is what I’ve been doing basically the whole season: trying to do the best we can, trying to score as many points as possible. And then after Abu Dhabi, we'll know."

How did Max Verstappen win in Baku, and what happened at the last F1 Grand Prix?

Check out our latest YouTube video here! Subscribe to GPblog's YouTube channel and turn on notifications to never miss the latest episodes.