Speaking to the media after the race, the Frenchman said: “The simple truth is that we were not happy with where the car was in terms of car balance and drivers’ feeling after the sprint race.

Verstappen had finished the sprint race in fourth, still far from having the pace to challenge McLaren for the win — something he managed yesterday, even if his comeback ultimately stopped at third place.

“Nobody wanted to settle for a car that would have been at that level. We felt the optimum window was not where we were,” Mekies added.

“We tried our only car at that moment to change it before the main qualifying. We obviously got it wrong, but it’s the way we go racing. We take risks, and if we don’t take that amount of risk, we don’t think we’ll be able to win.”

He finally added: “We took that risk. It didn’t work. It’s painful. We got the quality wrong. And that’s what it is. But again, we have taken a lot of these risks in the past few months. I insist it is the way this team goes racing.”

Starting from the pit lane, the four-time world champion produced another spectacular comeback, just like a year ago, but this time had to settle for third on the podium after challenging Kimi Antonelli for second right up to the final lap.

Paradoxically, the Dutchman was aided by the puncture on the first lap, which allowed him to bypass the mandatory double-stint strategy and switch to softs for the final stint, giving him fresher tyres to chase down the two Mercedes.