Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies has high praise for Max Verstappen. His driver secured pole position for the Italian Grand Prix on Saturday. The Dutchman managed to keep his McLaren and Ferrari rivals at bay at the Temple of Speed, breaking the lap record on the Italian asphalt in the process. However, Mekies remains cautious – he warns that McLaren, which has been dominating the season with the highly competitive MCL39, is often the fastest in the race.
Mekies commented on Verstappen’s qualifying and pole lap on F1TV. “All credit to Max,” the Frenchman began. “Last year, this was one of the most challenging weekends for the team – both the qualifying and the race were very treacherous. Monza is incredibly demanding, so everyone has done a fantastic job this weekend. Friday was already a very solid day for us, but today there could have been many different drivers on pole: both Ferraris, both McLarens, both Mercedes. Max just did an amazing job.”
“We are aware of McLaren’s race speed,” Mekies continued cautiously. “Normally, we see them really disappear into the distance in the race. Now at least we start ahead of them, but the race will show whether we can also engage in the fight. Of course, there is some difference in our setups, but we will see how much that will matter for, for example, the tires. As I said: McLaren is often the fastest on Sunday,” Mekies concluded.
