Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies has offered a worrying assessment of where the team stands heading into the second half of the Formula 1 season. After a difficult weekend at Zandvoort, he admitted the team had no answer to the pace of Mercedes, McLaren, and Ferrari.
With Max Verstappen crashing heavily on lap one of the Dutch Grand Prix, Red Bull was left battling with just a single car. Liam Lawson finished seventh, but was the last driver on the lead lap, over a minute behind Kimi Antonelli and 47 seconds behind sixth-placed Oscar Piastri.
"Performance-wise, there is nowhere to hide. It was a very difficult weekend," said Mekies. "It seems like we have made a bit of a step back compared to where we were before the summer break. We'll never know the real pace of the car in the race with Max, but it's fair to say that session after session, it looked more difficult than it was in Budapest, Spa, or Austria."
Mekies added that the team has tough work to do to regroup and determine whether the competition has simply done a better job upgrading their cars, or if something has been limiting them at Zandvoort. "That will be for us the next two weeks before we fight back in Monza all together," he said.
Red Bull could benefit in Monza through an expected power unit change and grid penalty for Antonelli, but with overtaking far simpler in Italy than Zandvoort, an advantage at the start may not translate into a result come the end of the race.
Turning back to Verstappen's crash, Mekies added: "The most important thing is that Max is okay. It was a pretty big shunt, and we are all glad to see that he's out of the car, unharmed, and that's what matters the most."
Baca Juga
Max Verstappen akan turun dalam balap gokart raksasa 'Max vs 100' di Silverstone, menantang 100 pebalap lain dalam ajang rekor dunia. Akankah ia mampu menyalip semuanya?
Mercedes menjelaskan team order di GP Belanda yang mengorbankan Antonelli demi Russell. Shovlin: itu untuk menyelamatkan waktu balapan dari Ferrari.
Red Bull khawatir dengan performa mereka usai GP Belanda yang sulit. Laurent Mekies menilai timnya tertinggal dari Mercedes, McLaren, dan Ferrari.
Lanjutkan dengan Google
Diskusi & Komentar (0)
Mari Bergabung dalam Diskusi!
Masuk dengan mudah untuk mulai memberikan komentar, membalas, dan berinteraksi dengan pembaca lainnya.
Komentar Terbaru
Belum ada komentar. Jadilah yang pertama!