Red Bull’s Japanese Grand Prix was a study in contrasts: a gritty recovery drive from Max Verstappen to eighth, a frustratingly timed Safety Car that derailed Isack Hadjar’s race, and a clear-eyed assessment from Team Principal Laurent Mekies about the team’s current limitations.
The race began promisingly for Verstappen, who launched from P11 and quickly climbed into contention. He passed teammate Hadjar early — a move the French rookie did not contest — and soon found himself locked behind Pierre Gasly. That duel would define his entire afternoon.
After the race, Verstappen summed up the effort required. “For this race I tried everything I could to get back into the points and work myself forward. I had a better start, maximised my race and recovered positions.”
But Gasly proved immovable. “I tried to pass the Alpine, but Pierre did a good job with no mistakes and made it unfortunately too difficult.”
Red Bull’s deployment issues made the task even harder. “When trying to overtake, there was no battery on the main straight; I was waiting to see if he might make a small mistake, but he did everything well and there was no way to pass by.”
Despite the frustration, Verstappen took the positives. “We ultimately scored good points considering the issues that we had this weekend, but it was not really where we want to fight.”
The month-long break before Miami will be crucial. “Now of course we have a month to analyse everything so we can be more competitive and sort more things with the car. It will be important to work to find a bit more rhythm and understand more about the car, the engine and deployment. Everyone is working flat out and doing the best they can and there is a lot that we can do over the next few weeks.”
Hadjar: Strong Start, Bad Timing, No Reward
Isack Hadjar’s race was defined by promise and misfortune. He started well, ran strongly in the early laps, and fought Gasly before deployment issues struck. “Today felt like a long race for us. I had a good start and a strong first lap, the plan was to fight with Pierre, and I was able to do that until the back straight where I lost a lot of battery.”
The lack of deployment was costly. “We need to improve our deployment, as we really struggled with it today.”
Then came the decisive blow: the Safety Car. “The timing of the Safety Car was also unfortunate and after that we found it hard to get back into the points.”
Hadjar battled the Audis late on but couldn’t break through. “I had a good fight with the Audis but didn’t have the pace to get passed them.”
Still, he remains optimistic. “Everyone is working hard to understand the issues, and we now have until Miami to put ourselves in a better position.”
Mekies: “We learned a lot more about where our car’s limitations are.”
Team Principal Laurent Mekies offered a candid assessment of Red Bull’s situation. “Today we learned a lot more about where our car’s current limitations are.”
Completing the race distance with both cars was a priority. “It was important for us to get involved in those battles and for both Max and Isack to complete the race distance, so we could continue to gather more data.”
But the work ahead is substantial. “Of course, we have a lot of work to do and we now have a few weeks to try and find some fixes for those limitations.”
The deficit to the front is not rooted in a single flaw. “At the moment, what is important is to work on the performance gap to the guys ahead of us. There is not just one area we can pinpoint as being the cause of our difficulties and we need to work on all areas.”
Despite the tough weekend, Mekies remains confident. “It feels bad now, but I have full confidence in the Team.”
The break will be used aggressively. “During the break, we are going to take a deep dive into our data, and take it to our simulator. We won’t have solved everything by the next race, but the Team will do the heavy lifting and get to the bottom of our difficulties.”
And he closed with a message of belief. “I have full confidence that, with everyone giving a massive push in Milton Keynes, we will make the most of the coming weeks to move forward and bring improvements to Miami.”
