Mekies: Red Bull made a big step forward, but we have not cracked everything

Red Bull arrived in Miami with an extensive update package that included changes to the floor, engine cover, sidepod inlets and both wings. The improvements appeared to have an immediate effect.

After struggling to match the pace of the leading teams in the opening rounds, Max Verstappen qualified on the front row for the Grand Prix and showed competitive race pace throughout the weekend.

Team principal Laurent Mekies said the results confirmed that Red Bull had taken a clear step in the right direction.

“There is a definitive step forward,” Mekies said, as quoted by Autosport.

“We left Japan 1.2 seconds away from pole, China 1.0 second away from pole. The competition was not going to wait for us with their updates, so everybody has updated the car. But certainly we knew that on top of the development race, we had to solve some of our issues. And we knew there was lap time in it,” added the Red Bull boss.

Mekies also highlighted how much closer Red Bull was to the fastest car in Miami compared to previous races.

“So, to see us this weekend qualifying six tenths away from pole on Friday and less than two tenths away from pole on Saturday is a big indication of the size of the progress.What number is the correct one, we don’t know. But compared to where we were, it’s something much better than anything we have been able to show this year,” said Mekies.

Although Verstappen eventually finished fifth after an early spin, Mekies was encouraged by the team’s overall race pace.

“Race pace was strong, confirming the good sign shown in quali. Not strong enough for P1 and P2, but perhaps able to put us in a fight between P3, P4 and P5.So again, some things that we had not shown so far this season. And it’s credit to everyone back in Milton Keynes for such an important step forward."

Despite the progress, Mekies stressed that Red Bull still has more performance to unlock and that further upgrades are already in development.

“Don’t get me wrong, we have not cracked everything we wanted to. So us against us, there is more we want to extract out of our package.And then we are conscious that the development race will be on and the competition will bring stuff in the next race,“ concluded Mekies.