Red Bull secured its first podium finish of the year in Montreal, although Saturday did not suggest that outcome was on the cards. Max Verstappen qualified only sixth and was critical afterwards, particularly when speaking to the Dutch media in the paddock.
A day later, the picture turned out to be more positive than expected, although Verstappen stressed that the result in Canada was not a complete reflection of the competitive order.
“To be honest, I was feeling better in Miami with the car,” Verstappen said. “So I’m a little bit surprised with being on the podium here. But you also have to look at it with George retiring, and with the McLarens making a mess of the strategy.”
Nevertheless, team principal Mekies does see the result at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as confirmation of the progress Red Bull made in Miami: “The big picture is that we have at the very least confirmed the Miami step. I think we’ve done a bit more than the Miami step, in the way that I think we have managed to take a bit of performance away from the top guys.”
Mekies has previously indicated that progress throughout the season will not be linear, and the same applies during race weekends. “We don’t do straightforward weekends here,” the Frenchman laughed.
On a more serious note, that relates to Verstappen’s remarks after qualifying. The four-time world champion said Red Bull had not listened to his feedback regarding the preferred set-up direction. He ultimately went along with the team’s choice, partly to demonstrate that it would not work.
“I’ve pointed it out so many times already, but sometimes you just have to let them feel for themselves that it doesn’t work,” Verstappen said.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
Why Red Bull will keep taking set-up risks
Asked by Motorsport.com about these comments, Mekies clarified that experimenting with set-up directions is part of Red Bull’s DNA and that the team has no intention of stopping.
“We take risks every time we don’t feel that we are at the right balance or at the right gap to the competition,” Mekies said. “And when you take risks like that, you do explore set-up directions.”
Mekies stressed that this approach is especially important at the start of a new regulation cycle, as teams are still learning about their packages.
“It’s only the beginning of the year, and it’s the beginning with this generation of cars. We are going to try things with our drivers to unlock something, even if it’s costing us something,” he explained.
“And then you learn. You learn for the qualifying condition and you learn for the race condition. There has been a lot of learning this weekend. How far were we from the ultimate potential of the car? Nobody really knows.”
That said, there are different ways of taking risks. In the past, Red Bull generally tended to follow Verstappen’s preferred direction, so has this weekend been different in that regard?
“Absolutely not,” Mekies replied firmly. “As much as it may have felt different, the reality is that our drivers are completely integrated in the choices we make.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
“It doesn’t mean that we don’t have our own little games at saying ‘what do you think and what do you think’. But, at the end of the day, we agree on what to try. And then sometimes there is a bit of, ‘I told you’ [games going on].”
That was certainly the case in Montreal after qualifying, but according to Mekies, the team needs exactly that kind of dynamic to move forward: “But we still learn together. And what is clear is that both sides are very conscious that you need that dynamic, you need that ‘I told you’ feeling sometimes in order to progress.”
Mekies concluded by stressing that taking risks inevitably means that things will sometimes go wrong.
“If you take risks, you will get the pain. And it’s to get these sort of drivers feelings, to get our drivers pushing us to say, ‘look, it may be only four or five tenths to the best cars, but it felt like it could be much better.’ It’s only an invitation for us to keep taking risks and keep exploring.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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