Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies has explained why Max Verstappen did not play games with the McLaren drivers during the F1 Abu Dhabi GP.
Despite taking a dominant win, the Dutchman missed out on the Drivers’ Championship to Lando Norris by two points in an extraordinary season. It was a stunning turnaround led by Red Bull’s new boss who joined in July.
Laurent Mekies discusses Red Bull decision to do a normal Grand Prix with Max Verstappen against the McLarens in F1 Abu Dhabi GP
As Max Verstappen had suggested going into the race, he would drive a normal race and hope for some fortune to fall his way.
Speaking in his print media session after the Grand Prix, Laurent Mekies explained that it was an option. However, the team ultimately decided to focus on themselves and banking the win for Max Verstappen.
Although Charles Leclerc drove a superb race, he ultimately could not beat Lando Norris to P3. Even if he had, McLaren would have surely asked Oscar Piastri to give up P2 and help his teammate take the title.
A complete lack of race pace from George Russell and Mercedes was not helpful either.
“It was possible to do it. We didn’t feel it was the right option for us. I mean, we would have given up quite a large advantage by doing so.
“And we didn’t think that playing tactics would give us an edge today for the situations we were in. So we chose to stay out to maximise the advantage we had and to concentrate on winning the race.
“And as we said, we can’t control what’s behind us.
“So yeah, we did discuss the options, but we stick to our plan.”
Red Bull and Laurent Mekies surprised by McLaren hard tyre call to disrupt Max Verstappen at the start of F1 Abu Dhabi GP
For many years now, including in 2025, Red Bull have generally been the team at the front who are prepared to take risks on starting tyres or during a race itself. McLaren have tended to be cautious.
However, the Woking-based team mixed it up by putting Oscar Piastri on the hard tyre at the start of the Grand Prix. Andrea Stella explained why.
Faced with McLarens on different strategies, Max Verstappen’s stunning stint on the fragile medium tyre was the key to a dominant win. He never left Oscar Piastri within DRS before making his only stop on lap 24.
The French engineer discussed Red Bull’s surprise at the move.
“We were indeed, yes, we were.
“I think it was quite clever from their side. It gave them a lot of options and ultimately gave us two scenarios to battle for the win.
“So yeah, we were not expecting it.”
Laurent Mekies on Red Bull turnaround to allow Max Verstappen to take pole and win F1 Abu Dhabi GP ahead of the McLaren drivers
A pole on Saturday and the win on Sunday meant Max Verstappen topped both those stats for the 2025 F1 season.
Following an absolute hammering on pace at a number of rounds earlier in the season, the comeback by Red Bull post-Zandvoort has been remarkably impressive. The Dutchman won 6 of the last 9 Grands Prix.
On Friday at the F1 Abu Dhabi GP, Max Verstappen was over 0.3s off Lando Norris in FP2. He looked a clear step behind in the long runs as well.
Nonetheless, more incredible work from the Red Bull engineers turned it around into Saturday. Verstappen went on to dominate Q3 and the Grand Prix.
As Laurent Mekies points out, this has become the norm for Red Bull. The RB21 has proven to be a car with a very narrow operating window.
“You know, I think it’s what has become a little bit of the usual story for us in the second part of the year.
“We did eventually find a sweet spot for this car. It has proven incredibly difficult to find it for every track, every tyre compound, every atmospheric conditions.
“And I think the guys found it in a very spectacular way here in the work from Friday to Saturday, from FP3 to quali, despite the difficulty to use FP3, given the hot track. I think they nailed it.
“We have seen quite a few times now that when we nail it, we are in a position to fight for the win. It was even a bit better today.”
