Max Verstappen backed on Red Bull weakness verdict after F1 "reality check"

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has backed Max Verstappen’s assessment of the RB22's weaknesses after a lonely race in Barcelona.

Verstappen finished a flattering fourth place in Spain, gaining two positions late on when reliability woes curtailed the efforts of Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc.

Taking the flag with over 15 seconds to both the driver ahead and the driver behind, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, the Red Bull driver was out of the thrust of the action, with Mekies conceding the lack of competitiveness had been expected.

“We were expecting that reality check in Barcelona,” said the Red Bull boss.

“The first track with a long straight, the mid-speed, high speed corners. It's probably the first time after China or Japan where we have come back to this sort of off track, so we were expecting certainly a different performance compared to Monaco, where we could certainly fight for pole.

“So, I think this weekend confirmed progress, because what we are talking about is being three or four tenths from pole, or three or four tenths from what you need to fight for the win, and that was certainly a very different picture at the beginning of the year on these sorts of tracks.

“There is still a gap, no doubt, PU side, chassis side, and that is what we need to fight for next.”

Isack Hadjar had qualified strongly, one position and less than one-tenth behind his four-time championship-winning team-mate. But a poor start hampered his efforts, after a poor start forced him into a recovery drive back to sixth place.

Speaking after finishing 40 seconds behind race-winner Lewis Hamilton, Verstappen concluded that Red Bull was the fourth-fastest team, behind Mercedes, Ferrari, and McLaren, with the key weakness being on “high-energy tracks, high-deg tracks”.

Addressing this view, Mekies said: “To Max's comments, he's right.

“Now it's not about one single thing anymore. It's about finding a little bit of performance in mid-speed corner, in high-speed corner, on the straight line, etc.”