Laurent Mekies believes that Red Bull could not have “done anything better” at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with the team boss labelling Max Verstappen’s victory as a “perfect race” despite the Dutchman missing out on the title by two points.
Arriving into the event 12 points adrift of championship leader Lando Norris, Verstappen kept his hopes of a fifth consecutive crown alive by sealing pole position in Saturday’s Qualifying.
However, while the 28-year-old converted that grid slot into a win, the result was not enough for him to become World Champion again, with a P3 for Norris giving the title to the Briton by a two-point margin.
Verstappen might not have taken the crown, but his second place was one that would perhaps not have been expected earlier in the season, given that he at one stage found himself more than 100 points away from the top of the standings.
When asked for his feelings following the end of an intense battle, Mekies – who joined Red Bull as Team Principal and CEO in July following the exit of Christian Horner – told F1 TV: “Extremely proud of the team. It’s an amazing comeback, an amazing win.
“A dominant win today in a clean race. It’s not a track where we were expecting to dominate, but that’s what the guys with Max have been able to do, to come up with a super-fast car here. Very, very proud of the amazing job everyone in Milton Keynes has done to give us not only that race but a sensational comeback in the second part of the year.
“Well done to Lando, it was a tough but a great fight. I hope it was great as well for the fans to have this championship still open up until the end of the year, the very last lap of the last race. And that’s it, we’ll try harder next.”
Pushed on whether he felt that more could have been done in the Grand Prix to secure the championship for Verstappen, Mekies responded: “No, really I don’t think so.
“It was the most perfect race in terms of how the team and Max have managed it from the start – from the pole of yesterday, starting from a difficult Friday to a dominant pole yesterday, leading pretty much from the beginning to the end, super good tyre management.
“I don’t think there is anything better than that. We cannot control what’s happening behind. We just look at ourselves, and I don’t think we could have done anything better today.”
On the other side of the garage, Yuki Tsunoda – in his last race for Red Bull before becoming a reserve driver for the team in 2026 – received a five-second time penalty for making more than one change of direction whilst defending against Norris during a scrap with the McLaren.
“It was a surprise,” Mekies said of the penalty. “But it’s always the hardest job in the world for the stewards to come up with something in some situations. It was a surprise, but ultimately it did not affect the result of the championship, so we just keep the win and well done to Lando for the title.”
With the race at the Yas Marina Circuit bringing the curtain down on an eventful 24-race campaign, Mekies expressed his pride at what Red Bull have been able to achieve during the season.
“It’s always full of emotion,” the Frenchman conceded. “I think the first dominant feeling is that we got a sensational turnaround, something that you don’t see every year, probably you don’t see every decade, and that’s what the girls and the guys have done.
“So that’s the main feeling – very, very proud, very impressed by this team that never ever gave up on this season, and it was pure racing spirit up until the last lap. We are missing two points, but it doesn’t change how extraordinary this turnaround has been.”
