Verstappen gets bad news from Red Bull team boss Mekies

Naturally, Mekies was pleased with the Dutchman’s result, whom he had earlier called ‘exceptionally good’. However, Red Bull still lacks the pace to truly fight for victories. Speaking after the Spanish GP, Mekies admitted that the RB22's underlying issues will not be resolved this year.

"Jokes aside, I don't think we are going to explain what it is and how we are going to fix it. I think Max is right. There is an element of car performance degradation that is happening through a session as for a race. He's right in saying it is not a new issue. We are not sleeping on it," Mekies said.

The Frenchman sees how his team is constantly working to solve the problems but is also realistic and recognizes they won’t be solved overnight. He continued: "We have been trying to tackle that in different ways.

At the Spanish GP, Verstappen secured an impressive second place, partly because Red Bull has gained insights through the problems. "We had a couple of positive steps in that regard this weekend," Mekies said.

Verstappen had to cut the first corner slightly after taking evasive action for Lewis Hamilton. In the end, Verstappen was instructed by his team to give the place back to Hamilton. After the race, Verstappen looked back on the incident in the Green Room together with Antonelli and Norris, who were surprised by the Dutchman’s move.

“Why did you have to let people through?” Norris wondered, while Antonelli admitted he didn’t know what had happened. “I was so confused,” said the young Italian.

Verstappen then explained what happened: "Because with Lewis, he clipped a bit the kerb, and I was like 'well, we're going to hit each other'. So I was like 'just cut the corner then.' Immediately I let him by, he had massive brake problems. I really lost four seconds."