{"id":194802,"date":"2025-10-12T11:33:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T11:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/194802\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T11:33:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T11:33:11","slug":"is-verstappen-right-that-red-bull-had-this-potential-in-its-f1-car-all-along","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/194802\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Verstappen right that Red Bull had this potential in its F1 car all along?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that Red Bull<\/a> has passed the high-downforce test in the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix<\/a>, it\u2019s clear that its progress over recent weeks hasn\u2019t been limited to just one type of circuit.<\/p>\n

Of course, the Circuit of the Americas up next will pose a completely different challenge with its many medium-speed corners\u00a0\u2013 the very type of corners that team boss Laurent Mekies pointed out to at Zandvoort, where he said the team was “killed by McLaren<\/a>“.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Success is therefore not guaranteed everywhere, but Red Bull has undeniably found something after the summer break. Verstappen has since scored more points than any other driver on the grid, with a consistent run of results: P2, P1, P1, and P2.<\/p>\n

The key question is what that \u2018something\u2019 actually means. As Andrea Stella pointed out, one factor is that Red Bull has continued to develop its car longer than McLaren<\/a>. Mekies\u2019 squad introduced a new floor in Monza and a new front wing in Singapore\u00a0\u2013 which chief engineer Paul Monaghan said is likely the last significant upgrade of the season<\/a>. McLaren, by contrast, has shifted its full focus to 2026 early on, although the approaches of both teams make sense.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

McLaren\u2019s advantage was large enough that it could afford to move extremely early to the next-generation of cars. Red Bull, however, found itself in a completely different situation. For a long time, the team was \u201clooking at two different watches\u201d, as Christian Horner described it\u00a0\u2013 meaning the correlation between the virtual world and the real track was off. That problem needed to be fixed first; otherwise, the team would head blindly into 2026 and risk another wrong turn.<\/p>\n

The best way to validate those tools was through the current car, making it entirely logical for Red Bull to keep developing the RB21 for longer.<\/p>\n

A new philosophy at Red Bull – and Mekies\u2019 role in it
\n \"Laurent <\/p>\n

Laurent Mekies, Red Bull Racing Team Principal<\/p>\n

Photo by: Sam Bloxham \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The recent upgrades have delivered exactly what was expected from them, which is good news on two fronts: the on-track performance has improved, but more importantly, it confirms that the correlation between Red Bull’s tools and reality is slowly getting better.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s extremely important that we validate with this year\u2019s car [so] that our way of looking at data is correct, and that our way of developing the car is correct,\u201d Mekies said. \u201cThat will give us confidence in the winter for next year’s car.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the current car, Verstappen admitted in Singapore that while the new floor helped, it was \u201cnot the full reason\u201d behind Red Bull\u2019s resurgence. Asked what the main factor was, the world champion answered: \u201cA different philosophy.\u201d<\/p>\n

He couldn’t go into details, but hinted at two key elements. The team now starts Fridays with a more solid baseline, requiring only fine-tuning rather than a full set-up overhaul after the first practice sessions. And, more importantly, Red Bull became better at finding the RB21\u2019s operating window\u00a0\u2013 no matter how narrow that might be. Helmut Marko added that the new floor slightly enlarged the window, but it\u2019s more significant that the team made steps operationally.<\/p>\n

Although no team member would reveal any more details about how that works behind the scenes, Marko did say: \u201cOur engineers are experienced, and Max is an experienced driver as well by now. We rely on them a lot more than we did before. We don\u2019t blindly follow what the numbers tell us anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

It applies to the preparations and the execution throughout a race weekend. The latter was seen in Monza, where several senior team members\u00a0\u2013 including technical director Pierre Wache – suggested running more downforce, but Verstappen\u2019s opinion ultimately prevailed.<\/p>\n

\"Max <\/p>\n

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Laurent Mekies, Alpine<\/p>\n

Photo by: Mark Thompson – Getty Images<\/p>\n

Mekies\u2019 influence should not be underestimated in this. Every Thursday before a grand prix, he sits down with Verstappen for around 20 minutes to discuss all options for the upcoming weekend, including technical matters. It\u2019s one of the benefits of having a team boss with a strong engineering background, although Mekies himself remains extremely modest about it during his media appearances.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy contribution is still zero,\u201d he said, \u201cand I say it with the same seriousness as I told you in Monza. The improvement in performance is basically due to the work of everyone in the team, with extremely strong and clear inputs from Max.\u201d<\/p>\n

Red Bull\u2019s top management appreciates that humility, but when Autosport put Mekies\u2019 words to Marko, the Austrian laughed: \u201cZero contribution? That\u2019s absolute rubbish!<\/p>\n

According to Marko, Mekies is playing a vital role\u00a0\u2013 not just in communicating with Verstappen, but also in connecting with engineers and technical leaders Wache and Monaghan. Verstappen himself praised Mekies\u2019 ability to \u201cask the right questions\u201d, as Red Bull now has someone at the very top who can challenge the technical team.<\/p>\n

Did the RB21 have this potential in the first half of the season?<\/p>\n

That leaves the question: was Verstappen right\u00a0\u2013 did the RB21 have this potential for longer? It\u2019s a ‘what if’ question and almost impossible to answer, but there are some clues in Verstappen’s wins earlier this season.<\/p>\n

His victory in Japan was mostly down to a good qualifying lap and the difficulty of overtaking at Suzuka, but the Imola win was more revealing. Verstappen impressed with an outside overtake on Oscar Piastri<\/a> in the opening corners\u00a0\u2013 yet what came after that mattered more. He was able to match the McLarens for pure race pace and even extended his medium-tyre stint longer than Piastri.<\/p>\n

\"Lando <\/p>\n

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing<\/p>\n

Photo by: Clive Mason\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

At the following race, Verstappen admitted to Dutch media that he didn\u2019t fully understand why things had suddenly clicked\u00a0\u2013 but that perfectly fits his recent comments. The RB21 had the potential at times; but the team rarely managed to extract it in the first half of the season.<\/p>\n

Imola was one of the rare occasions when Red Bull hit the sweet spot, and now, after months of accumulated learning, the team understands the car better. That in itself is no surprise, as the improved understanding is partly based on all failures along the way\u00a0\u2013 making it, above all, a natural development.<\/p>\n

When Autosport asked Mekies whether he agreed with Verstappen that this potential had been in the Red Bull car for longer, he gave a diplomatic but interesting answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me put it this way: I think everybody has been working extremely hard in Milton Keynes from race one to now, and never giving up on trying to unlock the potential of that car,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is fair to say that the progress in the last few weeks has been quite spectacular, and it’s credit to everyone, again, back at home that never gave up. And it’s credit to Max who, with his sensitivity, has been pushing us to explore different avenues, and finally we found an avenue that unlocked a bit of performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was carefully worded for a reason. Although Horner is gone, many other team members are still there, which explains why Mekies cleverly avoided directly agreeing that the performance had always been there.<\/p>\n

\"Max <\/p>\n

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing<\/p>\n

Photo by: Mark Thompson – Getty Images<\/p>\n

By first praising the team\u2019s hard work, he avoided any criticism of the team members that were there at the beginning of the season\u00a0\u2013 before subtly confirming Verstappen\u2019s theory when talking about \u201cnew avenues\u201d.<\/p>\n

Finally, Mekies stressed that there\u2019s no point in looking back, as the focus within the team has to be on the future: \u201cThere is no single silver bullet. There has been a good flow of updates, and there have been different ways to run the car.<\/p>\n

\u201cAltogether it seems that we have a competitive package on most tracks, but it’s very difficult to wind back and say, with the upgrades at the beginning of the year, where would you be? We are not looking back, we are looking forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

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– The Autosport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now that Red Bull has passed the high-downforce test in the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix, it\u2019s clear…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[1687,372,6537,85022,67596,3006,371,67497,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-194802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-f1","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-is-verstappen-right-that-red-bull-had-this-potential-in-its-f1-car-all-along","tag-marina-bay-street-circuit","tag-max-verstappen","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-singapore-gp","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}