Max’s Secrets Revealed: Skills & Techniques

• Louis covers

  Reporter Formula 1

He thought a split-second that Max Verstappens Race in Zandvoort was already over on Sunday after a few turns. Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies sat on the pit wall with his hands in her hair when he saw that the world champion was on his way to the Hugenholtzbocht lost control. Verstappen barely prevented a crash.

“Unbelievable how Max saved himself from that. We have been working with him for a long time, but are still looking at it,” says Mekies, who took over the discharge Christian Horner a few weeks ago, an hour after the race. “If you look back at the images, you keep surprising. I have almost no words for it. How does he do this? How does he keep him on the track and does he retain second place? Incredible.”

Verstappen started in Zandvoort from the second row, behind the unapproachable McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. The 65-time Grand Prix winner immediately opened the attack after the red lights, with the help of a different tire strategy. “He was the only one with new soft tires in the top ten,” says Mekies.

Mekies: “The race start on softs Was actually our only chance to threaten the McLarens. An aggressive strategy, because we knew that McLaren would otherwise run away anyway. That’s why we went for it and I think it was the best choice. Moreover, Max was not so happy with the hard tires on Friday, so it was not a daring decision. “

In the initial phase of the Dutch GP, Verstappen kept Norris behind him, but was hopeless when the British number two really turned on in the World Cup stand. “We knew that. If Oscar and Lando really push, they fly off,” says Mekies.

Red Bull Racing Mazzzelde in the final phase with the failure of Norris. “The fact that Max came in second was better than expected, but I am especially happy that we have taken revenge for Budapest. We were terribly bad there.”

Mekies refers to the Hungarian Grand Prix, right before the summer break. Verstappen finished without a chance as ninth, teammate Yuki Tsunoda remained scoreless. “We hoped that Budapest was a one -off dip and luckily it came out. Remarkable because Zandvoort looks best like the Hungaroring. We have learned from it. In Zandvoort we were faster than Ferrari and Mercedes. It gives us confidence, a boost.”

Mekies is not yet satisfied. “The gap with McLaren is far too big for that. I don’t make any illusions: if they start pushing, they will disappear on the horizon. We are not there yet. It is a matter of time and patience. We are still busy putting the car on the rails during a race weekend.”

Nevertheless, Mekies looks back on the days in Zandvoort. He mainly enjoyed Isack Hadjar’s surprising third place. “Extraordinarily,” was the judgment about his former pupil at Red Bull’s second racing stable RB. “We’ve been seeing it coming for a while and now everyone has been able to see it. It underlines how sensibly good his first season is.”

And according to the former team boss of RB it was no coincidence. “Isack qualified in fourth place, on its own. It was not a gift, not lucky. And he finished it big. He drove the entire race a few seconds behind Max. Hats.”