Red Bull issue fresh F1 target after Barcelona 'reality check'

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has stated his squad was anticipating a “reality check” in Barcelona.

The Milton Keynes-based squad entered the weekend having looked competitive one week prior in Monaco, where Max Verstappen qualified on the front row of the grid.

However, it was unable to replicate that pace in Barcelona and was resigned to being the fourth fastest team on the grid.

But Mekies stated that the situation was not a surprise for the team, as it expected the track layout in Barcelona to expose the weaknesses of the Red Bull package. 

“We were expecting that reality check in Barcelona,” Mekies told media including RacingNews365.

“The first track with a long straight, the mid-speed, high-speed corners... it's probably the first time after China and Japan that we've come back to this sort of track.

“We were expecting a different performance compared to Monaco, where we could suddenly fight for pole.”

Despite the challenging weekend, Mekies asserted it showed progress as he assessed the gap was closer this time around compared to other tracks with similar characteristics.

However, the Frenchman insisted there is still considerable work to do in order to close the deficit when it comes to areas such as high-speed corners.

“This weekend confirmed progress because what we are talking about is three or four tenths from pole, or three or four tenths from what you need to do to fight for the win,” he said.

“That was certainly a very different picture at the beginning of the year on these sort of tracks. 

“There is still a gap, no doubt, [on the] PU side, chassis side, and that's what we need to fight for next.

“Max's comments, he is right. 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, in a straight line, etc.”