Red Bull are not "begging for rain, but had to increase our downforce significantly," claims Mekies
On the back of a strong weekend so far at Spa-Francorchamps, new Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies revealed that the Milton Keynes-based outfit was forced to make changes to the aerodynamic configuration of the car.
Red Bull had opted for a skinny rear wing for the Sprint, and it proved a masterstroke. With better straight line speed than McLaren, Verstappen was able to overtake Oscar Piastri on the opening lap. From there, the Dutchman drove perfectly to keep the arguably faster McLarens at bay as he took the Sprint win.
However, the Dutch driver was left to rue his laps in the standard qualifying session after he was unable to split the McLaren, and got beaten by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc as well.
After a slightly more difficult qualifying session for the reigning champion, new Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies why the Austrian-British outfit elected to sacrifice Verstappen's top-speed advantage for the race.
“Tomorrow, obviously, everything is a big reset and we'll see what the weather is like. I don't think we are begging for [rain], but we've made quite a few choices on the car thinking that tomorrow we'll get a bit less grip compared to now. Obviously, we have increased our downforce significantly.”
“In that context, I think the rain is probably the best chance we have to reduce further the gap to McLaren. But, if it's dry, we will take that as well, it will still be a big tyre management game, even in the dry.”
Speaking of the gap to the field-leading McLaren, Mekies said that the qualifying results reflect the current pecking order.
“There were some serious improvements corner to corner, but I think the gap to McLaren is probably fair. Obviously, a bit frustrating to be beaten by Charles for a few thousands, but it's part of the game.
"Overall, the gap is what it is; two to three tenths to McLaren. I think it's reflecting the reality and we'll fight from there tomorrow," concluded the Frenchman.
