Laurent Mekies pinpoints 'big indication' of Red Bull F1 recovery

Laurent Mekies has underlined a "big indication" of a resurgent Red Bull following a dismal start to the F1 season, zeroing in on the RB22's drastically improved qualifying pace at the Miami Grand Prix.

The team principal of the Milton Keynes-based squad conceded the six-time constructors' champions did not yet have a clear picture of whether Max Verstappen's six-tenths deficit to pole in sprint qualifying or the two-tenths delta in the grand prix grid-setting session was more representative, but was keen to highlight the positive steps taken during F1's spring break.

To illustrate the progress, the Frenchman benchmarked it against the lap time disadvantage the four-time F1 drivers' champion experienced at Suzuka and in Shanghai.

"Yes, there is a definitive step forward," Mekies told media, including RacingNews365. "We left Japan 1.2 seconds away from pole, China 1.0 seconds away from pole.

"The competition was not going to wait for us with their updates. So everybody has updated the car, but certainly we knew that on top of the development race, we had to solve some of our issues, and we knew there was lap time in it.

"So to see us this weekend qualifying six tenths away from pole on Friday and less than two tenths away from pole on Saturday is a big indication of the size of our progress.

"What number is the correct one? We don't know, but compared to where we were, it's something much better than anything we have been able to show this year."

Verstappen qualified fifth for the sprint — where he would ultimately finish the one-third distance race — but surpassed all expectations to clinch a front row start for the main event at the Miami International Autodrome.

A first lap spin put pay to any serious challenge, and led to Red Bull opting for an alternate strategy, but Mekies was nonetheless hopeful the Dutchman could have contended for the podium had it not been for his mistake en route to another fifth-placed finish.

"Then, the race, it will probably take the guys a few hours to extract the true race pace, given that we were very offset with the strategy with Max," he added. "But I think overall, big picture, again, race pace was strong, confirming the good sign shown in qualifying.

"Not strong enough for P1 and P2, but perhaps able to put us in a fight between P3, P4 and P5. So, again, some things that we had not shown so far this season, and it's a credit to everyone back in Milton Keynes for such an important step forward.

"Don't get me wrong, we have not cracked everything we wanted to. So, us against us, there is more we want to extract from our package — and then we are conscious that the development race will be on, and the competition will bring stuff next race."