Mekies hails Verstappen for ‘undoubtedly the strongest race’ of the season in Austria

Laurent Mekies shared his excitement at Red Bull’s performance at the Austrian Grand Prix as they took a significant step closer to Mercedes, with the Team Principal praising Max Verstappen for his drive to P2.

The Milton Keynes-based outfit brought some of their biggest upgrades of the season so far to their home race, including changes to the floor and rear suspension to target improved performance and reliability.

Following some teething issues in Free Practice and a heavy Q3 crash, Verstappen started from P5 on the grid before quickly progressing up the order by dispatching Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes and Charles Leclerc's Ferrari in a single move on Lap 2.

He then came out on top in a thrilling battle with Lewis Hamilton and went on to steadily reduce George Russell’s advantage at the front, ultimately taking the chequered flag less than two seconds behind the Briton.

Reflecting on the result, Mekies said: “It's a very, very strong race, probably undoubtedly the strongest race we have done this season and, as we discussed after Qualifying, it was visible the progress was there but difficult to put a number on it.

“To see us getting so close to the ultimate pace needed to win here on a difficult track in very hot weather is a good witness of how much work went on in Milton Keynes and how strong Max today was really in all phases of the race.”

Red Bull took time to find their feet in the new set of regulations and went without a podium until Verstappen claimed P3 at the Canadian Grand Prix, but their eye-catching pace in Austria suggested that they could now be in the mix with the frontrunners.

Mekies admitted to F1 TV that even he was surprised at the breakthrough, explaining that the team had not been “underplaying” their true speed before the race.

“We knew we had made a step forward with the new package,” he said. “We obviously got it wrong with Max in Qualifying as we had the issues that led to him going off, so it was very difficult to think ‘are we one tenth away, two tenths away, three tenths away?’, and ultimately we only started P5.

“The race was the one that was going to give us the real number of how much we really closed the gap. We started the season more than a second away from the pace to win a race. The Miami package took us back to the half a second region, and now it’s great with the package we had today.

“We seem to be within the last tenth, let me put it this way, certainly within striking range. A huge well done back to everyone in Milton Keynes because you don’t cancel one second of deficit without huge effort. A huge well done to Max because what a race he has done today in extreme heat, mastering every tyre and every opportunity.”

Asked whether a more aggressive strategy could’ve helped Verstappen get even closer to victory, the team boss added: “‘If’ and ‘would’ and ‘should’ will not win races, as we say, so we take the P2. It’s probably where we are right now on this track, and more importantly, we take the closest gap to the race win that we have had this season and we use that to get the right energy for the next step that will be needed.”