{"id":145984,"date":"2025-09-15T22:47:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T22:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/145984\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T22:47:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T22:47:08","slug":"red-bull-racing-on-the-rebound-after-laurent-mekies-replaces-christian-horner-max-verstappens-monza-victory-indicates-turnaround-form-guide-mclaren-championship-battle-helmut-marko","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/145984\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Bull Racing on the rebound after Laurent Mekies replaces Christian Horner, Max Verstappen\u2019s Monza victory indicates turnaround, form guide, McLaren, championship battle, Helmut Marko"},"content":{"rendered":"

Of all the pre-race permutations for the Italian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen romping home to the season\u2019s biggest victory ahead of a muddled McLaren must have been among the least likely.<\/p>\n

Victory in Monza was only the third win for Verstappen this season, and it came at one of its worst circuits of 2024, the high-speed track having laid bare all Red Bull Racing\u2019s deeply ingrained problems just 12 months earlier.<\/p>\n

Yet there was Verstappen doing to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri what they had so often this season done to him.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe car was doing a little bit more what I liked,\u201d Verstappen said. \u201cThis weekend has been another step forward with the behaviour of the car, and that then shows in the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe positive is that we seem to understand a little bit more what we need to do with the car to be more competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not just that Red Bull Racing suddenly appears resurgent. It\u2019s what that means for the championship.<\/p>\n

If this is in fact a real recovery, it\u2019s come much too late for the constructors championship, which will likely be sewn up this weekend. Even the drivers title is already out of reach, having long ago become a straight battle between Piastri and Norris.<\/p>\n

But if Verstappen is back in the fight for victories, back regularly taking poles and podiums, he will become an uncomfortable, inconvenient wildcard that could decide which driver joins him as a world champion by the end of the season.<\/p>\n

And ironically that position may have come about from the season\u2019s highest profile sacking.<\/p>\n

PIT TALK PODCAST: Was McLaren right to tell Oscar Piastri to move aside for Lando Norris to finish second in Italy \u2014 and should the Australian have obeyed? Listen to Pit Talk below.<\/p>\n

RED BULL RACING\u2019S PACE ADVANTAGE WAS GENUINE<\/p>\n

Amid the excitement \u2014 or dread \u2014 of Red Bull Racing\u2019s recovery, it\u2019s worth considering how the team managed to perform so strongly at what should have been a weak circuit for the RB21.<\/p>\n

Part of the equation is that the track deprioritised McLaren\u2019s strengths.<\/p>\n

The otherwise all-conquering McLaren MCL39 is an aerodynamically efficient car, which means it can load up on downforce to be strong in the corners without too negative an effect on straight-line speed.<\/p>\n

But with so few corners at Monza \u2014 and with those few corners being far less important than the straights \u2014 that advantage is neutralised. When 83 per cent of the 5.793-kilometre lap is spent at full throttle, everyone prioritises speed down the straights.<\/p>\n

That factor was exacerbated by the fact Monza\u2019s new surface, laid in 2024, had matured and was generating much more grip than in the past, to some extent equalising cornering performance for all teams.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s why Monza saw one of the smallest field spreads in qualifying of any round this season.<\/p>\n

But Verstappen wasn\u2019t just a match for McLaren. He decisively took pole and controlled the race. His flying lap on Saturday was the fastest ever recorded in Formula 1, and he won the shortest grand prix in history.<\/p>\n

Red Bull Racing also made gains.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s 2024 car was exposed badly in low-downforce configuration, when the lack of wing made it harder to disguise some chronic balance problems that saw the car oversteer and understeer in the same corner as the aero balance shifted from entry to exit.<\/p>\n

It was an unsolvable conundrum, and Verstappen qualified seventh and 0.7 seconds off the pace before finishing sixth and 38 seconds behind the winner.<\/p>\n

One big change was immediately put in the pipeline: unlike in 2024, this year RBR brought a Monza-specific low-downforce rear wing to Italy, like most teams usually do.<\/p>\n

Further, however, this season the worst of the balance problems have been solved \u2014 or, perhaps more accurately, been ameliorated enough to give Verstappen a chance.<\/p>\n

The Dutchman broke with advice from his engineers to run with as skinny a rear wing as possible. It should have made the car too skittish to drive, but instead he and his engineering team found a way to balance the car just so with some tweaks to the front wing.<\/p>\n

It was a deft bit of finessing that paid major dividends. For only the third race this season the Red Bull Racing car was back in its sweet spot, and Verstappen was back to his best.<\/p>\n

But of course Monza is one of Formula 1\u2019s most extreme outliers. Performance there doesn\u2019t necessarily translate to other tracks.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s the way that Verstappen and his team nailed the chance that hints at a genuine upturn.<\/p>\n

Marquez wins San Marino GP | 00:43<\/p>\n

THE NO-HORNER FACTOR<\/p>\n

The Red Bull Racing garage was jubilant in Monza, but not just because of the victory.<\/p>\n

According to Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko, the result was vindication for a new approach.<\/p>\n

Specifically the new approach appears to have involved sacking Christian Horner and installing Laurent Mekies as team principal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe preparation of a weekend is a different one now,\u201d Marko said, per Autosport.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaurent is an excellent engineer, so now the idea is more to take whatever the simulation shows us but mix that with the experience that Max has and with the experience that our racing engineers have.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole technical team is more open now and they discuss things. They are not blindly taking what the simulation says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how we want to make a car that is more predictable and drivable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The implication appears to be that the team has been reconfigured under Mekies\u2019s stewardship. The team boss hasn\u2019t made any obvious personnel changes, but Marko\u2019s suggestion is that those already working there have been empowered to reach their potential.<\/p>\n

Verstappen corroborated Marko\u2019s opinion, reporting after victory that Mekies had given the team direction when previous there\u2019d been none.<\/p>\n

\u201cUp until now we\u2019ve had a lot of races where we were just shooting left and right a little bit with the set-up of the car,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were quite extreme changes, which shows that we were not in control. We were not fully understanding what to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Laurent having an engineering background, he\u2019s asking the right questions to the engineers \u2014 commonsense questions \u2014 so I think that works really well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely felt that in Zandvoort already we took a step that seemed to work quite well, and then here another step which felt again a little bit better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rumours had long suggested that the Verstappen camp had been losing confidence in the Red Bull Racing technical structure in the lead-up to Horner\u2019s shock July sacking. Reportedly he\u2019d felt his opinions on development had been ignored, with the car getting worse to drive as a result.<\/p>\n

It was interesting, then, to hear Marko also credit the victory to Verstappen\u2019s instincts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe engineers are listening more to the drivers now,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you have such a fast and experienced driver, I think that\u2019s the right way to do it. He has to drive the car anyway, and in the end it was important that our top speed improved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw that we could drive away from the McLarens. The driver\u2019s input was recognised.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis feels like a rebirth for us. We\u2019re all overjoyed. The atmosphere is fantastic, and the Red Bull spirit is back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kostecki & Hazelwood claim Airtouch 500 | 03:03<\/p>\n

RED BULL RACING FOLLOWS THE PATH<\/p>\n

For his part, Mekies reflected any credit paid to him back at the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe level of my contribution is zero,\u201d he said, per Autosport, noting that he\u2019d been in the role for barely two months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not joking either. It\u2019s 1500 people working on making the car faster, so these are the talents that make the car faster, that make the hundredths and the thousandths and that make the set of options with the new components available.<\/p>\n

\u201c[My] only role is to make sure that the talents that we have are put in the right conditions to express that talent at best. That\u2019s the only thing we are doing, so that\u2019s the extent of the contribution. That\u2019s it, nothing more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notably Mekies chose to send technical director Pierre Wach\u00e9 to collect the winner\u2019s trophy on the podium with Verstappen. Wach\u00e9 had been under fire late in Horner\u2019s tenure as the head of the technical team that delivered this year\u2019s underwhelming car.<\/p>\n

Horner stood on the podium alongside Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber to collect the trophy for his first victory as team principal in 2009 \u2014 though they were totally different times and different circumstances, with that also being Red Bull Racing\u2019s first victory.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting to observe that Mekies\u2019s tenure has so far been heralded in much the same way as Andrea Stella\u2019s ascension to the top job at McLaren.<\/p>\n

While Stella did make some immediately personnel changes \u2014 notably he sacked then technical director James Key amid the team\u2019s poor start to 2023 \u2014 his time in the top job has been more about him getting the most from what he already had and then adding where necessary.<\/p>\n

Both Stella and Mekies, as former engineers, appear to be much better placed to empower their technical teams than a CEO-style management figure.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also worth noting that former engineers and mechanics now dominate the team principal roles in Formula 1: Andy Cowell at Aston Martin, Ayao Komatsu at Haas, Alan Permane at Racing Bulls, James Vowles at Williams and Jonathan Wheatley at Sauber are all in Mekies and Stella\u2019s camp.<\/p>\n

Red Bull Racing, for so long having fancied itself as a disruptive force, is profiting from modern orthodoxy.<\/p>\n

Piastri praised for pit blunder reaction | 02:00<\/p>\n

VERSTAPPEN STILL A TITLE FORCE<\/p>\n

When Verstappen and Red Bull Racing were still in reasonable form early this season, delivering Verstappen two wins from the first seven rounds, he looked like an outside title contender.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth remembering that he was only 22 points off the lead after winning the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in May. It was only after those rounds that the gap between the teams widened, allowing Piastri and Norris to escape up the title table.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s instructive to consider that Verstappen finished ahead of at least one McLaren driver at four of the seven opening grands prix.<\/p>\n

Having him in the mix considerably alters the title calculus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would certainly make my life easier if there were some more drivers in between every now and then,\u201d Norris said, per ESPN, reflecting on the points lost to retirement from the Dutch Grand Prix with a power unit problem<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing is, we\u2019re so dominant as a team. That almost makes my life harder, so that\u2019s really the most frustrating part of it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The logic is clear. If McLaren is scoring one-twos, the most Norris can take out of Piastri\u2019s lead is seven points. Piastri and Norris are 8-7 head to head for races this season. It would take a considerable change in form for the Briton to close the gap.<\/p>\n

If, however, Verstappen were getting between him and Piastri, he could boost the difference to 10 points per grand prix \u2014 a small but potentially decisive difference.<\/p>\n

The only problem for him is that Verstappen isn\u2019t here to finish second.<\/p>\n

In Italy the Dutchman showed the flaw in that logic. Sprinting away to victory, he ensured Norris could take only three points out of Piastri\u2019s lead despite leading the Australian for the entire race bar the late team orders muddle.<\/p>\n

The question for the McLaren drivers, therefore, might be not whether Red Bull Racing is back. It might be how good Red Bull Racing could be.<\/p>\n

And of course that\u2019s before taking into account that, with nothing on the line, Verstappen will be racing the McLaren drivers with a freedom they simply can\u2019t afford. They have everything to lose, while he can only gain.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the speed we\u2019ve shown, we should hopefully be able to compete on our own merit at almost every circuit,\u201d Marko told Austrian TV.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still finetuning and refining things. If we can keep improving like this, that would be fantastic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe championship is gone, but a few more wins would be very nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The title might be gone, but Verstappen still has a central role in the fight to decide who gets it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Of all the pre-race permutations for the Italian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen romping home to the season\u2019s biggest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[98794,13273,16188,64,63,28124,98787,30772,98800,98779,1199,98796,2055,16177,30767,98784,800,2057,98804,98778,817,813,816,75747,2105,841,14211,4405,98799,97726,73223,2328,98783,21764,7983,97709,1737,98801,98791,98789,98785,2082,859,825,18268,98797,98803,71067,60997,2119,77365,98781,98792,98786,931,851,2035,98790,3595,85,28099,2094,98798,90136,31283,98802,13773,98795,98788,98793,98782,23055,21760,98780,43367,97722,2038],"class_list":["post-145984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-aero-balance","tag-andrea-stella","tag-andy-cowell","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-balance-problems","tag-brilliant-victory","tag-bull-racing","tag-bull-racing-talks","tag-central-role","tag-christian-horner","tag-chronic-balance-problems","tag-constructors-championship","tag-drivers-title","tag-engineering-background","tag-engineering-team","tag-espn-inc","tag-europe","tag-extreme-changes","tag-extreme-outliers","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-front-wing","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-grand-prix","tag-grands-prix","tag-helmut-marko","tag-highest-profile-sacking","tag-horror-show","tag-italian-grand","tag-italy","tag-james-key","tag-james-vowles","tag-jonathan-wheatley","tag-kostecki-hazelwood","tag-lando-norris","tag-low-downforce-configuration","tag-low-downforce-rear-wing","tag-management-figure","tag-mark-marquez","tag-mark-thompson","tag-mark-webber","tag-max-verstappen","tag-motorsport-adviser","tag-obvious-personnel-changes","tag-pace-advantage","tag-personnel-changes","tag-pierre-wache","tag-pit-talk","tag-power-unit-problem","tag-pre-race-permutations","tag-prioritises-speed","tag-real-recovery","tag-san-marino","tag-sebastian-vettel","tag-shock-sacking","tag-shortest-grand-prix","tag-southern-europe","tag-sports","tag-straight-line-speed","tag-team-boss","tag-team-consultant","tag-team-direction","tag-team-orders","tag-team-orders-muddle","tag-team-principal","tag-team-principal-roles","tag-technical-director","tag-technical-team","tag-title-calculus","tag-title-contender","tag-title-fight","tag-title-force","tag-title-table","tag-todd-hazelwood","tag-top-job"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}