The 2026 F1 Mexico City GP saw Max Verstappen take yet another win at the Autodrómo Hermanos Rodríguez, much to the delight of team boss Laurent Mekies. Due to the nature of the track, the start is very important, not in the least due to the 830 metre run to the first turn. And in recent races, the starts have been the achilles heel of Red Bull. So much even, that Verstappen was quite worried ahead of the race.
Mekies proud on team of making progress with the starts
Sunday’s race proved even a bigger test after Valtteri Bottas’ big crash brought out the red flag. The first start saw Verstappen go from fifth to second in half a lap. The second standing start was perhaps even better, as the Red Bull RB22 had to punch the hole in the air. However, the four time World Champion managed to stay ahead of his nemesis Lewis Hamilton.
So every reason for Mekies to be proud of his team. The Frenchman still believes Red Bull lacks compared to their competitors. Nonetheless he praised the engineers back in the factory for their continuous efforts in this department.
“Look, all I can tell you is that it’s not different to what we said last race, really, after a very difficult situation,” Mekies explained. “The situation is that we know we are not benchmark.
“There is a huge amount of work going on in Milton Keynes to improve them with what we have this year.
Work that seemingly has paid off, as Verstappen was positively surprised after the race with his race starts.
“And yes, you’ve seen some of this progress,” Mekies continued. “Certainly under high stress conditions today because we had several starts to make on a very long stretch to Turn 1 where everything is amplified.
“So very proud of the guys. There is a huge amount of pressure and attention around it. And it’s a true cross-functional topic and I’m very proud of how they managed to give us the best we could today.
“Does it mean we are now benchmark? No. Does it mean that we will have perfect starts or starts like today every race? No. But it means that we will continue to try and improve with what we have.”
Mekies admits Ferrari “very, very strong all weekend”
Verstappen’s race was undoubtably aided by both Ferrari drivers fighting eachother tooth and nail in the first lap. This resulted in Charles Leclerc cutting the corner and Hamilton being overtaken by Verstappen.
It eventually resulted in a five-second time penalty for Leclerc, which for many people felt a bit on the light side. And Mekies agreed, although he didn’t want to complain too much about the incident.
“If I tell you what we were thinking at the time, the first thing that comes to your mind is: ‘that should be a penalty’. That’s the first thing that comes to your mind as a competitor at that moment. And therefore, we were certainly a bit surprised by how long it took to see the penalty confirmed.
“And in some respect, we were also surprised that it was only five seconds. Because probably at the time they had given that penalty, I think Charles was already clear five seconds from Lewis anyway. So, it felt a bit light.
“But it’s what it is. We race with what we have.”
With the Italian team being caught up in an internal battle, the question remains if Verstappen would have won if Hamilton and Leclerc would have settled in the first lap. Mekies felt Red Bull would still be in the mix, but had to acknowledge Ferrari was very strong in Mexico City.
“Look, Ferrari has been very, very strong all weekend in all conditions,” Mekies admitted. “I think we were in the mix.
“Max has done undoubtedly a very good job at keeping Lewis and Charles behind for the moment they were racing with him.
“What would have happened if they would have kept the lead? I cannot tell you. But certainly, everybody was on the limit.”
