Max Verstappen believes Laurent Mekies' full impact on Red Bull will not be fully implemented until next season after replacing Christian Horner.
Mekies was promoted from Racing Bulls to replace Horner, who was dismissed after the British Grand Prix, after 20 years at the helm.
Since then, Verstappen has won the Italian GP, finished second at Zandvoort and won the Belgian GP Sprint as Red Bull appears to have turned a corner with its fickle RB21 machine.
However, the four-time champion believes that Mekies' full impact on Red Bull will only be shown next season, after the sweeping rule changes come into force.
"So far, it has been very nice to be working together," Verstappen told media, including RacingNews365.
"But in five, six weeks, there is not much that you can immediately change in the team, so it is important that he comes in, having worked at a lot of different teams, to get a proper understanding of how teams are operating.
"At the end of the day, we will analyse where we can do better, where we are strong and where we can improve as an operation, which everyone does.
"What I like as well is the technical questions throughout the weekend and back at the factory with useful meetings, and it seems like it is all working well, but the car is built for this year.
"So that is not something you can easily change, but the influence on next year, and the years after, can be bigger, of course."
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