Red Bull Racing’s rise during the second half of the F1 season has been, to use Laurent Mekies’ own words from Singapore, “spectacular”. Since the summer break, Max Verstappen hasn’t finished lower than second. The pure pace wasn’t there in Zandvoort, but from then on, the form has been impressive: three wins (Monza, Baku, and Austin) and a sprint victory.
It confirms that Red Bull’s resurgence isn’t limited to one specific type of circuit. After triumphs on two low-downforce tracks, Singapore was expected to be a real test. Then came question marks over the medium-speed corners in Austin – yet Red Bull passed all those tests. Admittedly, the pure race pace in Texas wasn’t much better than McLaren’s – or Lando Norris’ – but the fact that Verstappen could at least operate at the same level already marks a huge contrast to earlier in the year.
