Max Verstappen turned a difficult weekend into a crucial victory under the lights at the F1 Qatar GP. Red Bull started on the back foot, several tenths slower than McLaren on Friday. The team worked through set-up changes, closed the gap, and gave Verstappen a car he could fight with. In the race, he delivered the pace and control needed to cut Lando Norris’ lead to 12 points and keep the title alive. After the Qatar GP, Team Principal Laurent Mekies explained in a print media session how Red Bull found that speed, how close they came to McLaren on race day, and why McLaren’s strategy call opened the door for Verstappen’s win.
Red Bull F1 closes the gap to McLaren from difficult Friday to competitive race pace
Mekies felt that Red Bull started the Qatar GP weekend clearly behind, with McLaren well out of reach after Friday. The team worked through set-up changes, moving the car through different operating windows to close that gap. He looked back to places like Zandvoort and Budapest, where similar layouts and corners had favoured McLaren, and expected the same challenge in Qatar. By qualifying, Red Bull had cut the deficit to a couple of tenths.
With tyre differences at play in the Grand Prix, he still judged their race pace much closer to McLaren than the early numbers showed.
“So at first, as far as the weekend is concerned, we think we are behind. We are behind from Friday by a large amount, four or five tenths, which was painful. Then everyone has done an amazing job back at the base and here at the racetrack to continue to try to put the car in different windows to see if we could close that gap. We were expecting McLaren to be strong in that circuit. It’s a long mid-speed corner on which they have been killing us on quite a few tracks.
“I remember Zandvoort, I remember Budapest. It’s really the tracks where they know they have an advantage now. The gap reduced to somewhat the two tenths of qualifying, two and a half tenths qualifying. We were not so clear on what that would transform into in the race. As you say, there is a bit of tyre offset and a bit of a clever comparison to make for the race pace, but I think we were closer than that in the race.”
From difficult start to near level playing field with McLaren F1 as Verstappen finds his rhythm
Mekies believed Red Bull ran much closer to McLaren in the race during the F1 Qatar GP than the headline gaps suggested. The team moved from a difficult starting point and leaned heavily on the work done back at the factory to lift the car’s level.
McLaren’s apparent advantage through the weekend only increased the internal pressure to respond. Verstappen felt unhappy with the car on Friday, but the team improved it step by step into Saturday and across qualifying.
By Sunday, Mekies felt they had finally given him a package he could build on, with Verstappen turning it into the kind of performance they had come to expect.
“I don’t know if we are just matching or only half a tenth slower or maybe half a tenth faster, but we were certainly not two and a half tenths slower per lap. So I think we were very close in the race. We really started in a difficult place. And again, credit to the guys in the office. It has been a weekend where it pretty much felt too easy how the McLaren were faster than us all weekend. It put a lot of pressure, going back to your psychological aspect, it put a lot of pressure on us to get our car in a better place.
“So yes, Max [Verstappen] was particularly unhappy on Friday. And in some respect, I think we have improved from Friday to Saturday and from Saturday morning to Saturday afternoon. And I think today was probably a lot closer to where he has a car where he can add to it and bring up that incredible performance that we are used to with it.”
Red Bull baffled by McLaren F1 strategy and ready to let Verstappen fight Piastri
Mekies admitted Red Bull did not expect McLaren to stay out under the early safety car. The team had already decided to pit at the first opportunity and never hesitated when that window opened. He could only guess at McLaren’s reasoning but saw their call as a clear gamble. Mekies also stressed that, even if Verstappen had rejoined right behind Piastri, Red Bull had no intention of holding their driver back from a straight fight.
“Yes, we were surprised. It’s always easy to say after the race what is the right strategy, but to your point, we were very surprised because we had sort of, on our side, we had sort of pre-decided that, that would be the first lap we can take, and we will take it, but I cannot judge for what was their thought process at that moment, but yes, we were very surprised, yeah. No, no, we would have gone through [to fight Piastri after pit stop]. I mean, if he had passed him, we would not have been interested in backing him up. No, absolutely not.”
