Laurent Mekies sends unheard radio message to Max Verstappen after ‘tough’ Belgian Grand Prix for Red Bull

Follow us on Google Discover

Laurent Mekies can take plenty of positives out of his first race in charge of Red Bull as team principal.

The Belgian Grand Prix has been a happy hunting ground for Red Bull in the past, and in particular, Max Verstappen.

Verstappen had won three races on the spin at Spa up until last season, and he added a Sprint Race victory to his collection on Saturday.

Mekies was deviating from what his predecessor did during race weekends, with former boss Christian Horner absent for the first time in Red Bull’s Formula 1 history.

He watched on as the race start was abandoned on Sunday before a rolling start got the race underway.

Oscar Piastri got the best of Lando Norris, but Verstappen ultimately got stuck behind Charles Leclerc, as Red Bull set his car up for wet weather, and the majority of the race was run on slick tyres.

Yuki Tsunoda had his best qualifying performance since stepping up to Red Bull, but by pitting a lap too late, he once again missed out on the opportunity to score points.

Mekies is already having a positive impact on Tsunoda, but will want him to start scoring points soon to help Red Bull’s cause in the constructors’ championship.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

Laurent Mekies thanks Max Verstappen after frustrating Belgian Grand Prix result

Verstappen spent the entirety of the Belgian Grand Prix running in fourth, unable to find a way past Leclerc, who was rapid on the straights.

After the race, his stand-in race engineer, Simon Rennie, said: “OK, that was P4. Piastri, then Norris, then Leclerc, then us in P4.

“Behind you, Russell, about 13 seconds behind you. And Albon, 6th. Hamilton, 7th. He stopped one lap earlier than everyone else for dry tyres.

“It looked like he got a big win out of that. And then Lawson, 8th. Bortoleto, 9th. And Gasly, P10. Yuki was P12.”

Verstappen replied: “Copy. Yeah, that was tough. Basically similar to my confidence in qualifying that happens in the race.”

Rennie continued: “Yeah, understood. I think, if we knew the conditions were going to be like this, that we weren’t going to be driving in the wet much, then, yeah, it would have changed our rear wing choice.”

Mekies then got on the team radio to talk to Verstappen and said: “Thanks, Max. It was a tough one, spending all the race behind Charles like that and very little wet running, but you tried everything.

“It was nearly impossible to overtake today, and you tried everything you could do. Thanks for that.”

Verstappen concluded: “Yeah, thank you, Laurent. We’ll keep going, keep trying to go faster.”

READ MORE: All you need to know about Red Bull team principal and CEO Laurent Mekies

Laurent Mekies could bring one advantage to Red Bull after replacing Christian Horner

Horner made sure that he was on top of everything that was going on across Red Bull while he was in charge of the team.

His replacement, Mekies, needs to make sure that he doesn’t fall into the same trap, with several areas of concern that immediately need addressing.

Mekies is said to be better at translating driver feedback into meaningful changes, which may prove particularly useful for Tsunoda as he continues to suffer from the same issues the likes of Liam Lawson and Sergio Perez dealt with before him at Red Bull.

Verstappen’s set-up decisions at Spa and Silverstone have hampered him, and it shows the sacrifices Red Bull need to make to try and match McLaren.

Fans were left frustrated by how long the Belgian Grand Prix was delayed, with the wet tyres once again remaining untouched in the garage.

If the race had started earlier, Verstappen might have come away with another podium finish.