Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies does not believe his Austrian team will face a similar weekend in Zandvoort as they did at the Hungaroring. In the last race in Hungary, Yuki Tsunoda could do no better than seventeenth place, while Max Verstappen barely managed to score two World Championship points. According to Mekies, the Hungarian GP was more the exception than the rule, and the problems with the RB21 were largely due to the Hungaroring itself.
Even during the final free practice in Zandvoort, Max Verstappen could only achieve the fifth fastest time, and teammate Yuki Tsunoda finished in twelfth place. In Hungary, during the last Grand Prix before the summer break, it was Verstappen who could not climb higher than twelfth place during the final practice hour. The rest of the weekend also went disastrously, and the world champion finished in ninth place on Sunday.
‘Hungarian GP was exceptionally bad’
However, Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies does not think that the home hero in Zandvoort will face a similar weekend as at the Hungaroring. “Budapest was an exceptionally bad race weekend for us,” the Frenchman told Sky Sports F1 after the third free practice. “We tried many things during that weekend, but only a few things seemed to work. The big question was then: ‘Is Budapest the exception or the rule?’. We now understand that our problems were related to the Hungaroring itself.”
Mekies therefore remains hopeful for a good result for Verstappen, although McLaren is still too strong. The British team finished all free practices in the dunes with the fastest time. “Zandvoort has some characteristics in common with the Hungaroring,” the team boss continues. “Even though we are far from fast enough to compete with the McLarens, we can certainly fight with the group behind them.”
