Red Bull chief Laurent Mekies has played down Max Verstappen’s assertion that the team is on course to finish the 2025 season of Formula 1 without securing another victory.
Verstappen made the comment following a horror Hungarian Grand Prix weekend in which Red Bull had very little pace all weekend and managed only two points.
“Undriveable” RB21 Leaves Verstappen Baffled
Having labelled the RB21 as “undriveable” in reality, Verstappen was left bewildered by Red Bull’s late changes as they brought little to the table and he qualified eighth.
Verstappen carved through the first few laps with some aggressive moves through the chicane, but twice going in for a stop resulted in him finishing one position behind where he began.
Over 70 Seconds Off the Lead as McLaren Dominates Again
The Dutchman arrived home over 70 seconds adrift of race winner Lando Norris, who led team-mate Oscar Piastri as McLaren secured a seventh 1-2 of the season.
But although he has admitted that McLaren is still the benchmark, Mekies has warned Red Bull’s competitiveness at the Hungaroring was not representative.
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Mekies, who took over from the sacked Christian Horner as boss last month, noted that Verstappen won the Sprint Race in Belgium just last weekend.
Mekies Urges Patience and Perspective
Placing Verstappen’s remark on him, Mekies informed media such as Motorsport Week:
“It was a difficult weekend.
“I don’t think what you see this weekend represents where the car is at.
“We accept the fact that we are probably not very strong on tracks like here, but what we have seen today was outstanding.
“So, if you look, no question McLaren are faster, but look at Spa, Max was able to fight certainly on Saturday and surprise everyone in the Sprint. So, let’s see.
“The season is still very long. Even if car development is going to heavily slow down or is pretty much going to be minimum from now on, we still have a lot of things we can learn, as this weekend showed.
“And through that, as difficult and as uncomfortable as it is, fundamentally you learn through these sorts of weekends. So better to have them early on.
“We will learn and if we are able to extract a bit more of the car, thanks to weekends like today, then hopefully we can put up a better fight.”
Mekies Echoes Marko’s Confidence That Setback Was Temporary
Mekies agreed with Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko’s opinion that he does not foresee the issues that have dogged the team to be so dominant when the campaign resumes.
“I’m also quite confident that it’s a one-off,” he added. “It will not change the fact that we have a narrow window.
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“But I think to be dramatically out of it like that, I’m also quite confident that with all the tests we’ve done this weekend, I’m quite confident that it will be a one-off.
“And to Helmut’s point, it is true that it was mainly a slow-speed and a mid-speed matter.
“Therefore, it points towards more tyre usage and the tyre being switched on more than our performance.”
