Laurent Mekies praised Red Bull’s team of strategists during the Formula 1 Hungarian GP, who made bold decisions that ultimately paid off and secured a podium for Max Verstappen.
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The Austrian team’s director revealed that, based on simulations before the race, they expected to follow McLaren’s Lando Norris, the pole-sitter, and Ferrari. However, with a combination of aggressive strategic decisions and a strong performance from the Dutchman, they secured second place at the Hungaroring.
“I mean, Lando’s situation was kind of obvious, but what to do about it? In our pre-race forecasts, we thought that Lando and the two Ferraris would be out of our reach. That was our perception,” he explained.
“We believed we could fight for position with a Mercedes and, probably, with Oscar [Piastri]. In the end, we managed to fight with the two Ferraris, but Lando was out of reach. Regarding the virtual safety car, the team made several very bold strategic decisions today, including the one related to the VSC, but not only that,” he added.
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Mekies also highlighted that the moment Red Bull decided not to cover Lewis Hamilton’s pit stop ended up being the right call. “If we look at that earlier decision, not to cover Lewis when he made the pit-stop earlier, they nailed it. So, congratulations to the pitwall team, the people at the factory, as well as the tire and strategy groups. I think, overall, our race execution here was very, very solid.”
“We struggled with our starts earlier in the year. Now, we are managing good starts, efficient pit stops, and a very solid strategy, as always. So, I am certainly very pleased with how the team has operated in recent races, regaining the standard it is known for,” he concluded.
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