Max Verstappen kept his championship hopes alive with a fighting drive to P3 at the F1 Mexico City GP on Sunday afternoon. He now sits 36 points away from leader Lando Norris, 4 closer to P1 than before the race.
From P5 on the grid, he got a great launch and slipstream down to turn 1. He was challenging for P2 but had to go across the grass. He correctly gave the position back to Hamilton.
After an awkward tangle with his fellow multi-time World Champion at turns 1 and 2 a few laps later, he lost out to Ollie Bearman at turn 6 following a lock-up at turn 4. With everyone around him on softs, Verstappen was the only one running long on mediums. The soft was a better tyre as the Haas driver could ease away from the Dutchman.
Boxing at the end of lap 37, Verstappen immediately showed excellent pace on softs. He passed Hamilton on track. As the Mercedes’, Piastri and Bearman made second stops thanks to the mega pace of the soft tyre, Verstappen made it to P3. A late VSC cost him a shot at passing Charles Leclerc for 2nd.
Laurent Mekies on a tricky weekend for Red Bull Racing at the F1 Mexico City GP
Following a very tough run through the European summer and in Zandvoort where Red Bull were miles off McLaren in qualifying and/or race pace, they turned it around with updates. At Monza, Baku, Singapore and COTA they were close to or faster than McLaren. Verstappen’s three wins and a P2 put him back in the game against Piastri and Norris.
Despite Max Verstappen grabbing a P3, Laurent Mekies conceded in a print media session following the F1 Mexico City GP that Red Bull lacked the pace of the previous four rounds. The team is unsure as to why at present.
Nonetheless, he believes Lando Norris was pretty much unbeatable.
“We were not in the same strong positions here as we have been in the last few races. There is no obvious reason why.
“I think the most obvious aspect is that, as you have heard several times on the radios, we couldn’t give to Max a car he could push with as much as he normally does. And this has probably slowed us down a little bit.
“I think we are probably conscious of some of the elements we have left on the table. Would that be enough to match Lando [Norris] here this weekend? Not sure, honestly. Credit to them. They have been very, very fast. He was untouchable this weekend.
“I would lie to you if we knew how to come back here and beat them. Probably not right now.”
Laurent Mekies on a great recovery from Red Bull Racing at the F1 Mexico City GP
Although Max Verstappen was fastest in FP2, Red Bull Racing really struggled on the long runs on Friday afternoon. The four-time World Champion was complaining that he was driving on ice as he was sliding everywhere. While Norris was on another planet, Ferrari and Mercedes looked a smidge quicker than the Dutch driver as well.
Nonetheless, running the alternate strategy worked in the Grand Prix. Critically doing a one-stop got him on the podium. P2 was almost in his hands too.
“However, we certainly had a difficult Friday, a difficult Saturday. Starting P5 could have ended up in a much more difficult situation.
“The race was tense. The guys were very, very strong and good with the strategy. Helped a lot.
“And the second stint from Max on the soft was unbelievable. So all together it put us back in contention.
“And save for the VSC, it was probably the best result we could have had.”
Red Bull Racing strategy squad gets lots of praise from Laurent Mekies after F1 Mexico City GP
At the Azerbaijan GP, Max Verstappen started the race on hards from pole position. It is very unusual for the P1 driver to start on the hardest tyre in the Pirelli range. With the soft and medium the tyres to use in Mexico, driver and team once again agreed to starting on the harder rubber.
Mekies showered praise on the work the strategy team at Red Bull Racing has been doing. They have consistently been the benchmark on the F1 grid in the last few years.
“First, a big well done to the strategy team. They did a very, very good job. Today, as you said, it’s not the first time.
“It’s a group effort. They are extremely integrated with all the other engineering functions that fit into it. If you think about the tyre information, if you think about the role and race executions, about the set-up, about what the car does, what the car doesn’t do.
“So they have done an amazing job today again, and it’s great.
“There is also a huge amount of support coming from Milton Keynes live. And all together, they have been another time very, very strong.
Struggles in the opening stint on mediums not a surprise to Laurent Mekies and Red Bull Racing at F1 Mexico City GP
As previously stated, Red Bull did not go well on the mediums in the long runs on Friday. It was the same in the race itself. After rejoining on softs, he was a full 18.5s behind Charles Leclerc. The gap to Lando Norris in the lead was almost 36s.
While the pace on the softs was very good, Verstappen just fell short of getting the Ferrari.
What did surprise Laurent Mekies was the fact so many started on softs. 7 of the top 10 did. The two Red Bulls, as well as Isack Hadjar in the Racing Bulls car.
“I think we were expecting to suffer a lot on the medium, yes, because we have been suffering on the medium pretty much all weekend long, short run, long run. We’ve been struggling on the medium all weekend long.
“However, I think you are right in saying that we were not expecting so many of our competitors to start on soft. But yes, we were expecting to have a struggle in the first part of the race.”
