On Sunday, Max Verstappen drove from the pit lane to the podium in the São Paulo Grand Prix. After a pit stop by Lando Norris, the Dutchman even briefly took the lead in the race – to the disbelief of his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. However, towards the end of the race, Red Bull opted for another pit stop, which ultimately resulted in him finishing in third place. Team boss Laurent Mekies explains why Verstappen was called in one more time.
When Lando Norris made his second pit stop in lap 50, Verstappen inherited the lead. “I didn’t think I’d be saying this today, but you’re in P1,” Lambiase joked over the radio. Not much later, however, the Dutchman came in again for fresh rubber. He swapped his mediums for new softs and set his sights on the podium. Some fans were surprised that Red Bull gave up the lead for another stop, but according to Mekies, the chances were slim that Verstappen could have finished the race on the medium tire.
‘Best chance of a podium’
If Verstappen had not made an extra pit stop, he would have had to complete 36 laps on the yellow tires. In doing so, he would have had to defend against Lando Norris, who had already switched to fresh softs. “No, we don’t think we could have won without that pit stop,” Mekies clarified to the media in São Paulo. “We will probably never know exactly where Max would have ended up, but of course we discussed this extensively at the pit wall. At a certain point, you have to make a decision, and we did. With this approach, we had the best chance of a podium finish.””We ultimately succeeded,” he continued with satisfaction. “With one more lap, we might even have been able to take second place,” Mekies hinted at the late battle between Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli. The Dutchman just fell short of outsmarting the Italian. “So no, I don’t think we could have maintained P1 without a pit stop – especially when you look at the tire wear and the pace of the rest of the field.”
Through the team, Mekies once again emphasized Verstappen’s ‘incredible performance’. “We all know that last year he drove from P17 to victory in the rain – that was one of his most exceptional races. But this year he almost did it again; notably from the pit lane, on a dry track and with an extra pit stop due to a flat tire. In addition, the level of the car was back up to par. This may not be a victory, but it is a very positive day for us. We took risks, made mistakes, and learned things – all part of our process.”
