First weekend on the pit wall
The Belgian Grand Prix weekend held at the historic Spa-Francorchamps circuit was particularly special for Laurent Mekies. The French motorsport manager, who previously worked for Scuderia Ferrari and the Racing Bulls (now Red Bull’s junior team), made his debut in an official Formula 1 race weekend in the role of team principal for Red Bull Racing. Mekies had the pleasure of witnessing reigning World Champion Max Verstappen take a dominant win in Saturday’s Sprint Race, a strong start to his tenure.
However, Sunday presented greater challenges for the team, largely due to unexpected decisions made by the FIA Race Direction. Red Bull Racing had opted for an extreme setup on Max Verstappen’s RB21, preparing the car for a wet race by increasing the aerodynamic load. Unfortunately for the Milton Keynes-based team, the Race Direction decided to delay the Grand Prix start by more than one hour due to changing weather conditions. This disrupted the team’s race strategy and limited Max Verstappen’s potential on a drying track. Ultimately, the Dutch driver had to settle for fourth place, finishing behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Laurent Mekies analyzed the situation after the race, stating, “The limited time we had running on the wet surface certainly didn’t help us. We increased the car’s downforce level before qualifying in anticipation of a wet Sunday race, but we ended up racing in predominantly dry conditions, and that clearly impacted our performance. That’s part of the game in Formula 1. With a dry track, it became extremely difficult for Max to overtake. He spent nearly the entire race right behind Charles Leclerc’s gearbox, but under those conditions, it was evident that overtaking the Ferrari was not going to be possible.”
Mixed results across the garage
Once again, Max Verstappen was the only Red Bull Racing driver to score points in the Grand Prix. Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda, who had started from the fourth row of the grid, finished in a disappointing 13th position. Laurent Mekies did not shy away from taking full responsibility for the missed opportunity on Tsunoda’s side of the garage. “With Yuki, the mistake was ours,” Laurent Mekies admitted. “We had intended to bring him into the pits on the same lap as Max Verstappen. Everything was ready — the team was fully prepared for a double-stack pit stop. But we called Yuki too late, and that was clearly our fault. Staying out just one extra lap made a huge difference today, especially at the critical point of switching to slick tyres. As a result, he lost multiple positions.”
Encouraging signs from the RB21 package
Despite the disappointment of missing out on additional points with Yuki Tsunoda, the most encouraging news for Red Bull Racing over the Spa weekend may have come from the performance of the upgraded RB21 chassis. The development package introduced in Belgium seems to have brought the car closer to the front-running pace of their main competitors.
“The team is genuinely pleased with the update package we brought to Spa,” said Laurent Mekies. “There is absolutely no doubt that we have made a step forward in terms of the car’s overall performance. We are fully convinced that these upgrades have helped. Have we solved all the limitations of the RB21? No, not yet. But this is clearly a significant step forward.”
With just one race remaining before Formula 1 enters the summer break, Laurent Mekies and the Red Bull Racing team will be hoping to build further momentum heading into the Hungarian Grand Prix.
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