Mekies reveals big Red Bull risk after Max Verstappen misses Mexico FP1

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies revealed a significant risk the team took while Arvid Lindblad filled in for Max Verstappen in Mexico City.

The 18-year-old did a “very impressive” job, according to Mekies, not least because he was running the only Red Bull chassis with its most updated specification.

Red Bull: ’15 people’ told Arvid Lindblad to not take risks in Verstappen FP1 replacement

With nine of the 10 teams having used the opportunity at the Mexico City Grand Prix to field one of their mandatory rookie drivers in a first practice session, British driver Lindblad was chosen to replace Verstappen for the first hour.

Conditions were tricky in the session, with significant amounts of dust on the track surface and slippery conditions, but Lindblad ran a full programme in the session, clocking 26 laps and lapping a tenth quicker than full-time driver, Yuki Tsunoda.

That was not all, however, as the teenager was using Verstappen’s chassis, which had included several new upgrades relating to the floor, along with brake duct and sidepod revisions.

What Mekies has now revealed, though, is that the team took the chance on the rookie using the upgraded car, meaning any damage would have meant reverting to a previous specification.

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That put extra pressure on the 18-year-old, and the Red Bull team boss revealed there were extra voices from within the garage telling him not to risk too much.

“He did [a great job], honestly, incredible,” Mekies told Red Bull’s in-house Talking Bull podcast.

“I think normally, when you have a young driver jumping in for FP1, you have one or two guys coming to him and saying, ‘You know, please don’t take too much risk.’ I think we were probably close to 15 people going to him before FP1 saying, ‘Look, please, just don’t take risk!’

“We had the new package for that race that was only on that car. So we said, ‘Look, you know, we really need it.’

“So, he did what he did without touching the kerb, without putting a wheel on the grass, so it was very impressive.

“He’s been doing an amazing job there. He’s 18, it’s easy to forget, trying to remember how we were at 18 years old? So he has been very, very impressive.”

Verstappen, meanwhile, was watching the action unfold from the pit wall as he prepared to climb back into his Red Bull RB21 for FP2, later going on to finish on the podium come Sunday.

With his time on the sideline, Mekies revealed Verstappen took the time to look at “every single piece” of data he could so he could get back into the car and know how to approach things.

“He knew what setup was on Arvid, what setup was on Yuki,” Mekies explained.

“He was seeing corner by corner, live in this data, how the car was reacting to their inputs. It was as close as it could get for him to be driving in the car.

“That also gives you the level of intensity that you put into it. He could have said, ‘Well, you know what, it’s a rookie driving the car, why bother?’ You know, it’s a dirty track, nine rookies on track, but no – that tells you really the level of the competition.”

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