Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies is pleased with his team’s performance during the recent Canadian GP. According to the Frenchman, the Austrian team has already been able to close the gap to leader Mercedes a little, although Mekies immediately warns against complacency: ‘There is probably no reason to get too enthusiastic just yet’.
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Max Verstappen achieved a podium finish in Montreal for the first time this season. The Dutchman crossed the finish line third, after the retirements of George Russell and Lando Norris and a battle with Lewis Hamilton for second place. Red Bull had already brought an upgrade package for the RB22 in Miami and according to team principal Laurent Mekies, the gap to Mercedes has since become smaller.
“Overall, I saw that we at least continued the progress from Miami,” he told the media present in Montreal. “We achieved a bit more than the step we already took in Miami, in the sense that we managed to take a bit of performance away from the top drivers. If I look only at the lap time now, it was three tenths in qualifying (between polesitter George Russell and Max Verstappen, ed.), but on Sunday we were a bit closer than the half-second deficit we still had in Miami.”
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Mekies warns
Still, Red Bull must be careful of complacency, Mekies emphasized. “In Miami we finished forty seconds behind the winner. Here it was a bit more exciting,” the team principal added. “There is probably no reason to get too enthusiastic yet, as it may also have to do with the circuit design. (Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, ed.) is somewhat less demanding on the car in certain areas. But we confirm once again what we saw in Miami: the guys managed to get a little extra out of the car. Considering that the competition had another series of upgrades this weekend, that only confirms that we are heading in the right direction with development.”
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Read all about the Monaco GP here
