Red Bull rejects notion over Max Verstappen Brazilian GP grid penalty
Max Verstappen took second place in Brazil, despite starting 21st
Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies has downplayed the suggestion that Max Verstappen’s unplanned power unit change prevented him from winning the São Paulo Grand Prix.
Verstappen mounted an impressive charge from 21st to second in Brazil, the third year in a row he has recovered from down the order to stand on the podium at Interlagos.
Red Bull unsure it had the pace to beat McLaren in Brazil
That prompted inevitable questions regarding whether Verstappen could have beaten Lando Norris without the engine penalty that condemned him to the back of the grid.
Verstappen appeared skeptical, highlighting post-race that he experienced a “night and day” difference with the balance of his Red Bull after completing his first pit stop.
Indeed, Verstappen was seven seconds behind Norris, who had ceded the lead at the start to Kimi Antonelli, when the McLaren switched from intermediates to slicks on Lap 16.
That gap grew to almost 15 seconds by the chequered flag, with Verstappen unable to rival Norris even once the rain returned and the field reverted to wet-weather tyres.
Mekies admitted that Norris and McLaren proved to be the quickest combination in the circumstances, though he was unsure how much more competitive Red Bull could have been without the problem that compromised Verstappen’s pace midway through.
“At first, well done to Lando and to McLaren,” Mekies began. “I think they were generally a bit faster than us in the race. I also think that even if you start P2, say, I think on pace Lando was anyway a bit faster than us today.
“So, of course, it’s a different story if you start P2 because you have all the first opening laps risk-taking on which Max is unbelievable, but I think they were a bit faster than us today.
“Is it degradation? Is it pure pace? Obviously, they brought another fair bit of upgrade this weekend again, or is it something else?
“Because you may have heard Max being fairly vocal with the car balance, once we had switched to dry tyres. From that point onward, he had been very, very unhappy with car balance, including when we came back to the inters at the very end.
“So we need to analyse what happened there, how much of that is time loss, and whether or not that would have been enough to fight with McLaren.”
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Regardless, Mekies disclosed that Verstappen’s comeback still surpassed the team’s internal expectations, amid the driver’s assertion that overtaking would be a challenge.
“As always, I think no sim in the world will predict that you go from P21 to P2, or that you get 14 places in five laps,” he said. “There is no sim being able to do that. So he’s beating the sim on a regular basis.
Mekies confirmed that installing a new power unit on Verstappen’s car and triggering a grid drop had not been in the pipeline until a problem arose during Friday’s running.
“Of course, it’s frustrating because the pace seemed good on Friday and also on Saturday morning, and in some respects in Q1 when we let him qualify, but it’s part of the game,” the Frenchman acknowledged.
“It’s easy to forget that it’s the [team’s] first year with the power unit, and the guys have been doing an extraordinary job.
“We take the first penalty with Max this weekend, and that’s what it is. It was not planned. We had a small issue on Friday that forced us to do so, but that’s what it is.”
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