Laurent Mekies has come out in defence of the controversial team order that forced Max Verstappen to concede two positions during the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid.
Verstappen ultimately finished second behind race winner Kimi Antonelli, but the result came after a chaotic opening lap that put Red Bull in a difficult position from the very start.
The trouble began when Verstappen battled with Lewis Hamilton for third place at the start and cut the corner in the process, emerging ahead of the Ferrari driver.
Hamilton promptly radioed his team to flag that Verstappen should return the position, a communication that race control, which also monitors team radio feeds, would have heard directly.
By that point, the situation had grown more complex, as Verstappen had also passed Antonelli during the opening lap after the Mercedes driver had his own eventful start, cutting corners and conceding a place to Lando Norris.
That sequence of events meant that giving Hamilton his position back would simultaneously require Verstappen to also concede to Antonelli, who was now sandwiched between the two drivers.
Verstappen made his feelings clear on the radio when the instruction came from race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, saying: “What the f*** are you guys talking about? He would’ve shunted it. Like, what are you guys talking about? If I just stay on the track, I am out of the race.”
Despite his protests, Verstappen complied on lap four and allowed both Antonelli and Hamilton through before beginning his fight back through the field.
Mekies explained that the pit wall had conducted a rapid analysis and concluded that accepting the immediate loss of positions was far preferable to the risk of a stewards investigation and a potential time penalty.
“Look, it’s always going to be a painful and a difficult decision, but the guys on the pit wall had a very, very good look at it and did the analysis fast, because we had to make decisions fast,” Mekies told F1 TV.
“And of course we were not expecting the ‘thank you’ email at that moment from Max in the car, but we felt it was better to take the pain at that moment and to fight back after, which Max has done exceptionally well as always, rather than wait and risk bigger penalties that could have been more costly later on.”
Mekies confirmed that Red Bull had not acted on any instruction from race control, meaning the alternative would have been a stewards investigation with a discretionary sanction of either five or ten seconds.
“The decision of the stewards is never to give back positions,” he explained. “In that case we would have simply been penalised, either five seconds or 10 seconds – it’s at their discretion.”
He also noted that factors such as a safety car could have made a delayed penalty far more damaging than simply surrendering the positions on track when they did.
Hamilton’s subsequent retirement from the race added another dimension to the story, as had Red Bull waited longer, there would have been no opportunity for Verstappen to physically return the position to the Ferrari driver at all.
Mekies acknowledged the team had little time to consult race control mid-incident, saying real-time conversations with officials were simply not possible at that moment, though he expected such discussions to take place after the race.
“So luckily Max gave away the positions before Lewis retired and ultimately continued to fight the race from that point,” Mekies said, adding: “And of course it is frustrating, but in fairness I think P2 was the absolute best we could have achieved today.”