New Red Bull team boss assesses the situation after first weekends with Verstappen
In his first weekend at the helm of Laurent Mekies at Red Bull Racing, Max Verstappen won the sprint race in Belgium. A week later, the team principal was responsible for the total off-weekend that the Austrian team experienced in Hungary.
If Mekies had achieved a poor result with his previous team Racing Bulls, the public would have quickly forgotten about it. But when world champion Max Verstappen gets stuck in ninth place at the Hungaroring, the top floor of the Red Bull Energy Station is full of journalists, all of whom want to know how things could have gone so badly?
Mekies certainly doesn't underestimate his task
Mekies understands that the expectation at Red Bull is different to what he was used to. “We don't underestimate what is ahead of us,” said the Frenchman to, among others, GPblog.
"A top team has a target to win and the biggest difference with the competition in the midfield is that at every race weekend you come back and there is only one answer, did you win or did you not?"
"So we enjoy that. Red Bull Racing enjoys that. If you walk into the factory, you will find people that are only there to win. And it's a very strong feeling. Of course, resilience is important in this sport and you get across weekends like this one where you feel the world is not going the way you would like it to be."
Mekies has a feeling
"But again, there is so many talents, so many skills, so many experience in the team that we all very well know, outside of the noise at the race track, we all very well know that, we will make steps thanks to a weekend like that."
In any case, Mekies does not feel overwhelmed by the grandeur of Red Bull.
"No, it is not overwhelming. It's a sentiment that we always show more often than not, and I'm sure it will be the fuel of the future success of the team."
Popular on GPBlog
Sky Sports under fire after the Rosberg 'interview' with Verstappen
Hamilton 'should stop now', former F1 supremo Ecclestone firmly believes
Hamilton's run out of allies? Brundle opens the door for his F1 retirement!
