Verstappen 'redefined what perfection,' claims Mekies
Hot on the heels of Max Verstappen's unexpected dominant victory at the Italian Grand Prix, Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies claimed that the reigning champion "redefined what perfection."
Starting from pole, Verstappen had to cut across the first chicane to defend from Lando Noris off the line. As the Dutchman previously had experience with such situation, Red Bull asked him to give the position back to avoid any unnecessary penalties.
The Dutchman did not wait for long to overtake Norris with the help of DRS to be able to drive in clear air. From there he made serene progress, only losing the lead through the pit stop period. McLaren drivers stayed out mucu longer as they were waiting for a possible safety car intervention.
However, there was no interruption, and as soon as Norris and Oscar Piastri completed their stop, Verstappen regained the leas to claim his third Italian Grand Prix victory.
As for his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, he started in the points and ran there in the early stages. However he then lost out to Andrea Kimi Antonelli. He pitted relatively early, and that saw him get caught in traffic.
Spending the majority of the second half of the Italian Grand Prix in a DRS train, Tsunoda failed to make it back to the points-paying positions.
Reflecting on Red Bull's race at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, team boss Laurent Mekies said: “My first thought is for everybody in Milton Keynes, it has been a difficult season for the Team so far and this win is something they have deserved for a while.
"It looked like McLaren would be running an advantage in pretty much every single race, but everyone has been amazing, to keep exploring and pushing the boundaries of this car and it is great today to be on the top step.
"There is a special Team behind this win, doing all the hard work to enable us to have a fast car today and everyone at the track then executed it in an unbelievable way.
"Max redefined what perfection is today and this weekend in general. It was a difficult first lap and he kept very cool and managed to do the overtaking on track and then to dominate the race.
"Monza is very specific in terms of layout and the Team have done an amazing job to get, fundamentally, the fastest car on track here, then combine that with Max's magic and the result is today’s win.
As for Tsunoda's race, Mekies added: "Yuki was unfortunate today; he was stuck in traffic and it was very difficult for him to get anything out of the race.
"Then he had damage to his floor after his contact with Liam, which cost him performance. We have more work to do to help Yuki with his race pace and we will be pushing to get him in the right place as we progress.”
