Verstappen praises "very keen and very motivated" Mekies after victory in the Spa sprint race
With Red Bull having elected to replace long-serving team boss Christian Horner with Laurent Mekies, four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen was asked to comment on the Frenchman's initial contribution to the success of the Milton Keynes-based squad.
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.
Asked to reflect on Red Bull's new team boss Laurent Mekies' contribution, Verstappen stressed that the Frenchman first needs time to assess the situation at the Milton Keynes-based outfit.
“It's very difficult to, within two weeks, suddenly say a lot of things need to change out of the blue. It's about starting the relationship and just understanding how everyone is operating.
"And then at one point, you come to conclusions and maybe you want to change something, and this is something that will happen over the coming weeks, months.”
“So, it's really early days, but so far, he's very keen and very motivated, and that's exactly what you want also. I got on very well with him. So, yeah, it's been a very good start.”
Speaking of his own contribution to Red Bull, the reigning champion said that the Milton Keynes-based outfit can always count on him.
“The team can always count on me. They will always get my very best, whoever is in charge. They know that. I'm never holding back or anything.
"I'm always trying to give them the best possible result, and that's also what they pay me for. For sure, it's positive. We need, of course, positive energy, and that's a great start for us.”
Working again with Simon Rennie in the absence of his regular race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, Verstappen was left to praise Rennie, claiming that the British engineer was "immediately on it."
“He has a lot of racing experience already. He's been part of the team for a very long time. The last few years, not anymore in a race engineer role, but he steps in and he's immediately on it. So again, very enjoyable to work with Simon.”
