Max Verstappen achieved an entirely unexpected podium after starting from the pit-lane. Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies explained how Max Verstappen managed to turn around a disastrous Saturday in Brazil. The team had taken too many risks during qualifying, which made life difficult for their driver.
The upgrades brought in from Mexico had raised some doubts, which is why the team had already taken a step back after the Sprint Race. The car, however, had never truly performed on the São Paulo track, with Verstappen only able to secure sixteenth on the grid. This was the reason why the team decided to modify the car during parc fermé, forcing the #1 driver to start from the pit-lane.
Max Verstappen’s remarkable comeback
Despite the setback at the start, the Dutch driver managed to climb all the way up to third place. According to Laurent Mekies, Max Verstappen’s result was also thanks to the adjustments made to his Red Bull. Nevertheless, the achievement of the driver deserves full recognition: “Max was fantastic starting from the pit-lane,” he told Sky Sports F1.
“It’s an important result; it shows that the car is there. Perhaps without the early puncture, we could have aimed even higher,” added the Milton Keynes team principal.
The operating window
Red Bull was facing one of its worst weekends in recent memory. The double elimination in Q1 had put the team in a difficult position for the race. However, one decisive factor allowed Max to climb the order by exploiting strong race pace: “In qualifying we pushed too hard and it cost us dearly, but that’s part of the way we work,” Laurent Mekies emphasized.
“We put the car in a window we understood, and it showed. A solid race, a perfect strategy, and a car that responded well,” he concluded. The more conservative set-up choices for the Brazil GP, combined with the right decisions from the pit-wall, ultimately contributed to Max Verstappen’s impressive comeback.
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