Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies highlighted Max Verstappen’s approach to race starts after the Dutchman’s lap one pass on Lando Norris that set him up to win last weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Verstappen started from second place on Saturday night and Norris defended the inside line hard from the Red Bull driver, only to then run deep and open the door for Verstappen to sweep past. After the race, Mekies – speaking prior to both McLarens being disqualified for technical infringements – was full of praise for Verstappen’s approach.
“Lap one, Turn 1, he just never gets it wrong, no?” Mekies said. “So that was typical Max, he nailed it, got a good start, got Lando. You guys can judge it better than I do, but he just never gets it wrong.
“From that point, in the early phase of the race, actually George [Russell] was able to put more pressure than what we would have thought on us. So, George was properly putting pressure on us that lasts maybe five or 10 laps, and then he started to drop, perhaps with graining or with something else.
“So, the race started to become a bit more in control at that stage, when George was a touch out of our DRS. Then there was another critical moment where George pitted, whether or not to cover him. I guess it was a bit tricky at that stage because it was not clear how fast he would go with a fresh set of hard tires. We decided to stay out. Max was able to keep pushing and effectively to match George’s pace.
“Nonetheless, as you have seen, eight laps later, when we pitted, it was still very, very close between the two, so there was little to separate them. And then on the hard again, I think we had more confidence on the hard because we saw that the [medium] tires were in good condition when we took them off the car, and Max could push more, and I think he had probably even more pace than what we have seen in the car.
“There were a couple of times in the second stint where we have asked him to increase the pace when Lando was pushing, and every time it was necessary, he has increased the pace.”
Verstappen was able to pull comfortably clear of the field in the second half of the race, which Mekies said was an even more impressive achievement given the unknowns that teams were dealing with in Las Vegas.
“I think all together it was a masterclass from him, no question,” he said. “On the race weekend, nobody had the proper preparations because the practice sessions were all disturbed by something or something else.
“To be that strong on Saturday, tire degradation, execution, race pace, I think it’s a big well done to Max for nailing it again, and to everyone back in Milton Keynes and the racetrack, because there was a lot more [to handle] than a normal race. There was really this number of factors that we knew were going to be new for the race day.”
