Mekies praises Max after Monza podium: 'He was incredible'

Published on 06 September 2026 by Yvonne Huijs

Laurent Mekies, CEO and Team Principal of Oracle Red Bull Racing, looks back on the Italian Grand Prix with a positive feeling. Max Verstappen finished third at Monza. “Today was a well-deserved podium for Max and the whole Team. It was an intense weekend, but the race showed that our pace was fairly strong. Mercedes was a bit too fast for us, but we were strong enough to beat Ferrari and McLaren on merits. It was probably our best race pace in a few weeks and a step in the right direction. We won’t be happy until we have that ultimate speed. We clearly still have some challenges to overcome. Once we get to the bottom of them, that may unlock more performance. Max has been incredible on track today. He made several very spectacular overtakes and defensive manoeuvres and drove an aggressive strategy which led us to the podium.”

There were no points on the cards for Liam Lawson. The Red Bull driver had to start from the back of the grid due to a number of power unit penalties and later made contact with Nico Hülkenberg. “Liam showed good pace after a challenging start of the race from the back of the grid following his PU penalties. Contact with Nico meant we had to change his front wing and ultimately killed his chance for points. We take the improved pace and many learnings from Monza, and look forward to the very new circuit of Madrid in a few days.”