Following the qualifying round in Mexico, Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies admitted that the team is struggling to find the right balance with the RB21. Max Verstappen had to settle for a disappointing fifth starting position at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Meanwhile, title rival Lando Norris secured pole position. According to Mekies, Red Bull is now fully focused on race pace, hoping to limit the damage in the championship.
“To be honest, we failed to get the car into the sweet spot this weekend,” Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies confessed to the media in Mexico City. “Especially in Max’s case. He clearly indicated that he couldn’t push as he would like to. We tried everything, but couldn’t provide him with the car that would allow him to push to the limit. With the level of competition, this is immediately severely punished,” he referred to McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes, who claimed the first four starting positions.”
Focus on Race Pace
According to Mekies, Red Bull’s focus after the qualification was on improving the race pace, hoping this would pay off on Sunday. “From Friday to Saturday, we mainly focused on optimizing the race speed, and we spent a lot of time on this during the final training,” he explained. “Whether this affected us during the qualification is hard to say – the race will tell.”
“It’s all part of the process,” Mekies concluded optimistically. “We will learn from this – after all, we still have a long race ahead of us. We are surrounded by our competitors, and a lot can happen on this circuit. I’m sure it won’t be a boring race,” the Frenchman promised. Max Verstappen has been steadily advancing in the world championship in the past Grands Prix. He is still forty points behind world championship leader Oscar Piastri and twenty-six behind his teammate, Lando Norris. The latter secured pole position in Mexico City and could regain the lead in the world championship.
