Laurent Mekies finally sees signs of improvement at Red Bull: "Clear progress" despite another frustrating Miami Grand Prix

For Red Bull, Miami hasn't quite felt like a return to the top yet. But for Laurent Mekies, the weekend in Florida nonetheless marks a real turning point.

After a difficult start to the season—where the Austrian team sometimes found itself battling with Alpine or Williams in the middle of the pack—the RB22 has finally shown encouraging signs. And that was evident right from qualifying.

Max Verstappen posted his best qualifying performance of the season by securing a spot on the front row, just 0.166 seconds off Kimi Antonelli's pole position.

This was a significant improvement following the difficulties seen at Suzuka and Shanghai.

“There has been clear progress,” Laurent Mekies summarized after the race. “We left Japan 1.2 seconds off pole position, and China 1.0 seconds off pole position.”

And the Frenchman emphasized: Red Bull couldn't simply rely on its own upgrades while McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari continued to develop their cars as well.

“The competition wasn't going to wait for us to update their cars. Everyone improved theirs, but we knew full well that in addition to the development race, we had to solve some of our own problems, and we knew we could gain lap time.”

The result is clear: “The fact that we were six-tenths of a second off pole position on Friday and less than two-tenths off on Saturday shows just how much progress we've made.”

A disastrous start… then an old-school comeback

But Verstappen's race quickly turned into a balancing act.

On the very first lap, the four-time world champion spun out due to his own mistake in the opening corners. The result: from a battle for the win… to a comeback from the back of the top 10.

A scenario that could have turned into a disaster. Instead, Verstappen turned his race into a rescue mission.

Taking advantage of the safety car period triggered in part by the retirements of Gasly and Hadjar, Red Bull attempted an aggressive strategic gamble: a very early pit stop, followed by an endless 51-lap stint on hard tires.

And against all odds, it almost worked.

Verstappen strung together passes on Ocon, Bearman, Albon, Sainz, and even Hamilton, before getting back in the mix for the podium. Finishing fifth—despite a five-second post-race penalty for crossing the white line on the out-lap—the Dutchman confirmed that the RB22 had regained some bite.

“Overall, I think the race pace was good, confirming the positive signs seen in qualifying,” explained Mekies. “It wasn't enough for the top two spots, but it might have allowed us to fight for third, fourth, and fifth.”

A measured statement, but one that reveals the relief felt at Red Bull.

“So, once again, this is something we hadn't shown so far this season, and the entire team in Milton Keynes deserves credit for this significant step forward.”

Hadjar frustrated, but supported

The weekend was much more complicated for Isack Hadjar. Already forced to start from the pit lane after a compliance issue with his car, the Frenchman nevertheless seemed capable of fighting his way back into the points.

But his Grand Prix came to an abrupt end on Lap 6 after a mistake entering the chicane: broken suspension, wall, retirement.

A huge frustration for the rookie, who himself admitted after the race that he had “thrown points in the trash.” At Red Bull, however, Mekies refuses to be alarmed.

“We had a difficult weekend [with Hadjar]. Honestly, we know we didn't do everything perfectly on our end, without giving too much away.”

The Frenchman also revealed a major issue the second car faced throughout the weekend: “You'll see for yourselves that we suffered from a lack of straight-line performance with this car for most of the weekend. That didn't help our overall performance.”

Despite everything, the Red Bull boss remains confident: “I think that in terms of driving and pace, [Hadjar] gradually found the right rhythm. I think he would have performed well in the race, and he did, despite the little he was able to show. Therefore, I don't think we're worried.”

And Mekies also acknowledges the team's share of responsibility:

“Our weekend certainly wasn't without its challenges. We didn't help him either by making him start from the back of the grid after our error regarding the car's compliance. So no, I'm not worried.”

Red Bull finally finds a glimmer of hope

In the championship, Red Bull is still far behind. With only 30 points scored this season—compared to McLaren's 94 despite several retirements—the gap is significant.

But in Miami, the Austrian team has at least regained something it had lost: confidence.

“We knew we were losing precious lap time because of the drivers' lack of confidence in the car.”

“Resolving this issue was the main focus of the work done during the five-week break, in addition to normal development.”

The RB22 hasn't yet returned to being the dominant machine of Verstappen's glory years. But in Miami, for the first time in a long while, Red Bull gave the impression that it's heading in the right direction again.