Red Bull explain why data “points towards” performance which the eye can’t see

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies is adamant their lack of pace at the Hungarian Grand Prix was a “one-off”.

Max Verstappen endured a difficult race at the Hungaroring, finishing ninth.

The Dutchman finished one place lower than where he started after traffic halted his progress on the two-stop strategy.

Teammate Yuki Tsunoda was knocked out in Q1 and finished 17th.

However, for Tsunoda, qualifying was more encouraging, as he was under 0.2s off Verstappen’s pace.

Speaking after the race, Mekies denied that Red Bull’s lack of pace will be a trend for the rest of the season.

“I’m also quite confident that it’s a one-off,” he added. “It will not change the fact that we have a narrow window.

“But I think to be dramatically out of it like that, I’m also quite confident that with all the tests we’ve done this weekend, I’m quite confident that it will be a one-off.

“And to Helmut’s point, it is true that it was mainly a slow-speed and a mid-speed matter. 

“Therefore, it points towards more tyre usage and the tyre being switched on more than our performance.”

Laurent Mekies sure Red Bull can win again 

Red Bull’s shocking performance led to Verstappen conceding its unlikely he will win again in 2025.

Mekies cited Verstappen’s sprint race performance at the Belgian GP as proof that Red Bull can compete at the front of the field.

“It was a tough weekend,” he added. “I don’t think what you see this weekend represents where the car is at.  We accept the fact that we are probably not very strong on tracks like here, but what we have seen today was outstanding.

“So, if you look, no question McLaren are faster, but look at Spa, Max was able to fight certainly on Saturday and surprise everyone in the Sprint. So, let’s see.

“The season is still very long. Even if car development is going to heavily slow down or is pretty much going to be minimum from now on, we still have a lot of things we can learn, as this weekend showed.

“And through that, as difficult and as uncomfortable as it is, fundamentally you learn through these sorts of weekends. So better to have them early on.

“We will learn and if we are able to extract a bit more of the car, thanks to weekends like today, then hopefully we can put up a better fight.”