Changes came in a big way to Milton Keynes since the last grand prix — with Laurent Mekies replacing the only team principal the constructor has ever had in Christian Horner, thus creating mystery about Max Verstappen’s future. But the brass at Red Bull are hoping to hang onto the four-time world champion, so the work the engineers have done is key.
There was a promised series of upgrades to the car after two weeks off, and given that Verstappen ended up shocking the McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris by winning the sprint on Saturday at Spa-Francorchamps, it looks like the numerous upgrades ended up working out.
After overtaking and subsequently holding off Piastri, Verstappen praised the car, but in his typical manner, he wasn’t particularly effusive, either.
“Yeah. I think it’s been good,” Verstappen said. “We just tried to optimize the car. We tried to put performance on it like everyone else, and I think we are doing that. So that’s for sure a positive. We just need to keep doing that.”
Of course, Red Bull had a monster car for some years, but this year it’s been lacking. Still, its premier driver has still done well for himself, sitting at 169 points in third place in the driver’s standings — only behind the McLaren duo.
For Verstappen, the big work wasn’t just the quick overtake of Piastri on the first lap of the sprint at Spa, it was keeping Piastri (and later Norris, just behind them) at bay.
He recalled the challenges and noted that he had to be pitch-perfect in order to stay in front 14 laps later.
“Yeah, it worked out really well,” Verstappen said. “That’s the only real opportunity you’re going to get against them, and we got it into Turn 5. Then I knew it was going to be very tough to keep them behind. It was just playing cat and mouse, DRS, battery usage. The whole race was within seven-tenths. I couldn’t really afford to make big mistakes. I had one tiny lock-up in the last corner, but apart from that, it was a great result to keep them behind and to have a win here in Spa. Of course, it’s a sprint win, but it still counts and I’m very happy with what we did out there.”
While Saturday’s win came with eight points, Verstappen would love to bring home 25 more on Sunday in the actual Belgian Grand Prix. But he’ll have yet another challenge as he’ll be starting in the fourth position on the grid at Spa.
