Laurant Mekies: 'Max had a very strong qualifying'

Published on 22 November 2025 by Johan Peeters

Laurent Mekies, CEO and team principal of Oracle Red Bull Racing, reflects after Friday’s qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix: “Once again, Max had a very strong Qualifying and in super tricky conditions as well. He got into the right tempo in Q1 and Q2 on a very wet track and he was strong on the Inters in Q3 when it cleared up a little. He put himself in a position to fight for Pole, which we unfortunately missed out on tonight, but the front row is a still a very significant showing of the pace we have in the car. P2 certainly gives us something to play with tomorrow.” 

“With Yuki, it is on us. We made a big mistake with his tyre pressure which meant that he was out there with a setting that basically gave him no chance to be competitive, so we as a Team, apologise to him for that. This sort of thing should not happen, but it did, so the best we can do is learn from it and come back stronger. He's been in a really good rhythm all weekend, so it is painful to have taken his chance away. Tomorrow should make for an interesting race day."

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