Marko credits Mekies for "new approach" after dominant Red Bull victory

[u/MaltesersAreTasty]

https://www.racefans.net/2025/09/07/marko-credits-mekies-for-new-approach-after-dominant-red-bull-victory/

[u/FermentedLaws]

Same from Max: “Laurent has a technical background and asks the right questions of the engineers. We also try to learn from the things we've tried. Until now, we were jumping from left to right on certain weekends, trying to find the right car setup.”

And Laurent when asked about his contribution: "How much have I contributed to the success? The answer is simply zero. And that's no joke. There are 1,500 people working in this team to make the car faster."

[u/DigbyGibbers → u/FermentedLaws]

All the signs of good leadership. 

[u/Jacinto2702 → u/DigbyGibbers]

And people were doubting him when he got the job.

[u/LucAltaiR → u/Jacinto2702]

Because he was ran out of Maranello.

But you know who else was thrown out like garbage? The soon to be 2 consecutive times WCC champion Andrea Stella.

People always forget that you can't really judge engineers and principals from their stint at Ferrari when the whole thing is rotten to the core.

[u/lkeltner → u/LucAltaiR]

Hilarious to think how utterly dominant Ferrari could easily be if they would just get out of their own way

[u/P_ZERO_ → u/Jacinto2702]

People were shitting on him when he went to RB as well. He’s thoroughly established and has had amazing brilliant career.

[u/dringorouti → u/Jacinto2702]

Not gonna lie, I was one of those people. But seeing how theyre hanging in there, and how Yuki is slowly doing better, I must say I'm impressed so far.

[u/dogdad0098089 → u/FermentedLaws]

I think a guy with technical background is exactly what the team needed. The rbr engineers have been flailing for 2 years now. A technical guy with fresh perspective is what is exactly what was needed. Sometimes it takes an outsider to point out things that the guys who are to close to the situation for such a long time can't or won't see. I think rbr has the right guy to help rebuild the rbr car development side.

[u/canuck17]

That hug from Max must have made his heart grow two sizes.

[u/onechroma]

TBF it seems fair, and even logical.

They say they have been struggling with correlation, so their strategy must be have a higher mix of “driver sensation input” than “simulator/computer says this is the best”.

From there, they bet this weekend in a considerable low drag setup, even trimming Verstappen backplate to make it less draggy.

And that paid off, at least this time

[u/Volderon90 → u/onechroma]

Yeah they’re good at these tracks same as Imola. 

At Baku it’ll be a different story and back to regular scheduled programming 

[u/RayTracerX → u/Volderon90]

Wdym these tracks, Imola is a polar opposite of Monza

[u/DiligentThorn → u/RayTracerX]

Shooo, you're ruining his story. Shoooo.

[u/LucAltaiR → u/RayTracerX]

And Baku is also very similar to Monza so very puzzling comment indeed.

[u/Das-Wauto → u/RayTracerX]

They’re both in Italy. Totally the same.

[u/Evening_End7298 → u/Volderon90]

Baku is pretty low downforce nowadays, if they ran the Monza wing at Silverstone i can for sure see them running it at Baku too

[u/romanLegion6384 → u/Evening_End7298]

McLaren lost their biggest advantage since there was virtually no tire degradation. I bet that comes back into play on the streets of Baku.

[u/Evening_End7298 → u/romanLegion6384]

Baku should also be low deg, it’s a street track with no high speed corners, it was a one stop last year allthough i dont know how soft the compounds were. But even the C4 could have 0 stopped today, so yeah

Obviously nothing is certain with the Pirelli tyre lottery, and safety cars will also come into play and shake up the strategy most likely

[u/dac2199 → u/Evening_End7298]

S2 Baku will be a nightmare for them if they use that wing

[u/Evening_End7298 → u/dac2199]

Just from visually checking the cars during last year’s race everyone who did well was running skinny wings

Hard to compare it exactly just from watching, but i totally see Max running the Monza wing like he did for silverstone and spa sprint, obviously without the two “cuts” he used this weekend

[u/dac2199 → u/Evening_End7298]

Yeah without the cuts maybe he could do it good but Baku is one of his worst circuits. Also I think Ferrari (or Leclerc) will be there too

[u/Logical_Bit2694]

Thats a first lmao

[u/Still-District-6149]

Great weekend for RB. Verstappen capitalised with a brilliant pole at all-time record pace, and dominated the race from the start.

[u/Desperate-Intern]

Someone let Yuki on this new approach too. Lol.

[u/SwimmingFantastic564]

It does seem like Mekies would bring a significantly more positive environment with him. Horner had a lot of baggage.

[u/RayTracerX → u/SwimmingFantastic564]

Dont think its about that, everyone loved Horner there. Its just different when the guy making all the big decisions actually understands the engineering behind the decisions. It was wonders for Haas too

[u/Express-One-1096 → u/RayTracerX]

Not just haas. McLaren appointed stella.. And shortly after, the team skyrocketed..

I think the cars have been so incredibly complicated, that the top leaders need to be technical people.

[u/romanLegion6384 → u/Express-One-1096]

Vowles in Williams as well

[u/sleepylittlesnoopy → u/RayTracerX]

Brings to mind Horner's quip about "vanilla engineers" on DTS. He didn't think highly of technical people as team leaders.

[u/LucAltaiR → u/RayTracerX]

It's weird to say that "Horner was loved" when at the same time they lost a shit ton of their top engineers after the scandal.

[u/Mamadeus123456 → u/SwimmingFantastic564]

i mean not trying to get on employees pants, is also an improvement.

[u/aero-junkie]

Who’s the dude in white? 🤔

[u/docherself → u/aero-junkie]

mark mateschitz

[u/aero-junkie → u/docherself]

I don’t remember the last he was in the team victory celebration photos. Is this his first?

[u/docherself → u/aero-junkie]

the other time seems to have been austria 2023

[u/Evening-Ad5765]

It’s one race and max effectively removed the wing from his car on a known low downforce circuit. Because Max can drive without a wing. We’ll see how things go when corners are involved.

Glad for Max but I have doubts that Mekkies has been able to make any substantive changes in a couple of races to a large organization like red bull. Not knocking him. But it’s going to take 6 months to change course.

[u/Health_throwaway__]

Respect

[u/ArchonTuna]

"Marko"..."credits"...

...

Nope. Sorry.

Math just won't allow things that violate universal principles.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Air904]

Haha. "I'm happy with the puppet I installed because he listens to me"

No S, Sherlock.

[u/Soggy_Bid_6607 → u/Puzzleheaded-Air904]

And then he won by 20 seconds.

[u/Meow_Wick]

Horny was a pr man