Laurent Mekies feels Red Bull has wiped half a second deficit to McLaren since the F1 Dutch GP 

Laurent Mekies believes that Red Bull has erased much of the advantage McLaren once held over them. Speaking to the media, including Sportskeeda, after the USGP in Austin, the Frenchman said that with the teams now closely matched, it is difficult to predict which one will hold the upper hand at the remaining races.

With Max Verstappen closing in on the McLaren drivers and achieving a grand slam in Austin, Red Bull’s performance progress has been evident. The upgrades introduced at Monza appear to have ironed out many of the RB21’s earlier weaknesses. Even at circuits like Singapore, historically an Achilles heel for the team, Red Bull managed to finish much closer to McLaren. The question now is whether McLaren still has the same performance edge that defined the early part of their season.

Mekies acknowledged that the performance gap to McLaren has significantly reduced and that the latter no longer enjoys a dominant advantage. He noted that Red Bull has closed what was previously a half-second deficit and suggested that the remaining races could see three or four teams capable of challenging for wins. The only certainty, according to the Red Bull team principal, is that the performance gap between the two front-running teams has markedly diminished.

Asked by Sportskeeda if McLaren had the same car they started the season with, Mekies replied:

“So I think it's fair to say you are right, I think it's saying that in terms of relative performance, they don't have the advantage they had in the first part of the season anymore compared to us. So I think we are now in a situation, you know, even back in Spa when we won the sprint, we were still a fair half a second slower than them every lap. Even in Zandvoort, after the shutdown, we were still probably half a second slower than them every lap." "So I think that has now gone. And we are in situations where you go to a race weekend and you have three or four teams that can fight for the win if they extract everything their car can produce on that track. So I don't think anyone is in a dominant position. I think every race, every remaining race will be about which one of these four teams is nailing the track layout, the conditions, the temperatures, the tyres, and then that guy will win the race,” he added.

Mekies also broke down the factors he believes contributed to the RB21's improved competence against the MCL39.

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Laurent Mekies believes multiple factors, including the Monza floor upgrade, improved the Red Bull RB21

Laurent Mekies believes that several factors have contributed to Red Bull’s recent resurgence. While McLaren team principal Andrea Stella suggested that Red Bull’s performance gains were primarily down to adjustments in ride height, Mekies maintained that this was not the sole factor behind their progress.

The Red Bull team principal noted that pinpointing the exact areas of improvement would not serve the team’s interests, but it is understood that the larger front wing introduced in Baku, along with the new floor added in Monza, helped resolve a significant portion of their earlier issues. Without going into specifics, Mekies explained that these updates, both mechanical and aerodynamic, have collectively enhanced the RB21’s overall performance and given the team more flexibility to optimize ride height.

Asked if it was the ride height of the car was the reason behind their performance prowess in Austin, as Stella pointed out, Mekies said:

“I would certainly not be able to bring only to one single element such as one. I would certainly not be able to bring only to one single element such as one analysis job that has been done to try to identify where we are the untapped area of the performance window of the car and the effort to put the car in these areas, and to see if it was going to perform. And it's not a combination of one factor, it's a combination of many, many factors. We don't have a big incentive to explain to anyone what it is." "But it's a combination of all that. And of course, of course, every hundredth counts and the Monza floor helped, and every single small details that we've put on the car helps, whether it is mechanically or aerodynamically, and this together with being, with that extensive exploration of where to run the car has helped us on its performance,” he added.

In Austin, McLaren adopted a conservative ride-height setup, having had limited opportunity to experiment with it. Their sprint race crashes denied the team a proper run to evaluate and fine-tune the setup, leaving them with an incomplete understanding of the optimal ride height for the weekend. As a result, McLaren opted for a safer configuration rather than pushing the limits. With the drivers’ championship tightening and Red Bull emerging as an increasingly serious threat, McLaren now has their work cut out to find those extra tenths of performance.

Edited by Riddhiman Sarkar