Laurent Mekies admits Max Verstappen copied ‘convincing’ Monza trick to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Max Verstappen is somehow becoming even more important at Red Bull Racing as he recorded his fourth victory of the season at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

For the first time since last year’s Spanish Grand Prix, Max Verstappen recorded back-to-back wins for Red Bull in Baku.

Verstappen dominated qualifying while all those around him struggled in blustery conditions, before sealing the sixth Grand Slam of his Formula 1 career.

Only Jim Clark has more Grand Slams than Verstappen, but he was slightly aided by both McLaren drivers underachieving and an unwell George Russell fighting with Carlos Sainz over the final two spots on the podium.

Verstappen has suddenly put himself back into the equation when it comes to this year’s drivers’ championship.

It would be remarkable if he could overturn a 69-point deficit with seven race weekends to go, but if anyone on the grid could do it, it’s the 27-year-old.

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Laurent Mekies hails Max Verstappen’s tyre choice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Team principal Laurent Mekies spoke to Sky Sports F1 (21/9 2:07 pm) after Verstappen’s win at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

At Monza, Verstappen went against Pierre Wache’s advice when it came to his car’s setup, and it paid off handsomely.

Pundit Bernie Collins said to Mekies that she was a bit surprised when Verstappen started the race on the hard compound tyres.

The Red Bull team principal explained: “Yeah, you’re right. Max pushed a lot for that.

“Honestly, we knew it was not so much about knowing which tyre is better than the others, it was, as you’ve seen yesterday, six or seven red flags in qualifying.

“So, we knew it was a race that could be dictated by when the safety car would come out, and we sort of knew that we would drive until the safety car came out, and we would try to stay out.

“And Max was pushing a lot, knowing that if we wait until the safety car came, then we want that tyre.

“It comes with a lot of risk, but he was very convincing in saying that he will deal with the other risks.”

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Laurent Mekies explains how Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda are working with Red Bull engineers

Mekies was then asked if Verstappen was more active in making these decisions than he used to be, and continued: “I think the reality is that you have everyone trying to unlock more, trying to analyse all of the data, nobody has ever given up on this season in terms of understanding why we were not reaching the level we wanted.

“And little by little, there is no silver bullet, there is no big item, but there have been a few things that have been unlocked from everyone at the factory.

“There have been a few things at the track that have been unlocked from the work that Max and Yuki have been doing with their engineers, and altogether it seems to add up, and at least on these two tracks, with these low-speed corners, we were back in the game.”

Verstappen admitted his dominance in Baku was ‘unusual’ and harked back to the 2023 season when he was simply unstoppable on his way to winning a third title.

If he can replicate that form over the next seven races, then Piastri or Norris will need to be on top form to stop Verstappen from matching Juan Manuel Fangio’s record of winning five F1 titles.