Why it’s far too early to label Red Bull’s Monza win a ‘rebirth’

Red Bull’s return to the top step of the podium in Italy was the first Grand Prix victory for the Milton Keynes-based squad under Laurent Mekies, and the first since the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix earlier this summer.

Verstappen’s victory of 19 seconds over Lando Norris may have relit the embers of an all but extinguished championship challenge, but it’s too early to claim that Red Bull is back at its best based on one Grand Prix victory.

Max Verstappen’s victory hailed as Red Bull’s ‘rebirth’

It’s been a fallow summer for Red Bull, with the early-season optimism giving way to the stark reality that McLaren’s MCL39 is just a little too consistently versatile and fast to topple; it’s a situation exacerbated by the rapidly approaching conclusion of the current regulations which means it would be foolish, if not downright irresponsible, to give too much effort and sacrifice resources to improve this season’s car for what are rapidly diminishing returns.

But there have been some consistent minor upgrades being fed onto the RB21, including a revised floor specification for Verstappen that coincided with the most emphatic Red Bull performance of the season, as the four-time F1 World Champion put in a performance reminiscent of his 2023 imperiousness.

In a season where the highs have been infrequent and hard-fought, Monza proved a timely and welcome aberration in which Red Bull was clearly the superior team on a weekend where McLaren didn’t have an answer, whether that be in single-lap pace or a long run.

It led to all sorts of claims in the immediate euphoric aftermath, particularly from Helmut Marko, who told Speedweek that the win felt like “a rebirth”.

“We’re all overjoyed,” he said. “The atmosphere is fantastic, and the Red Bull spirit is back.”

Two months after the removal of Christian Horner as team boss, it’s a clear message from the Austrian: Red Bull can win without its former leader, and perhaps even improve further on what was in place under Horner.

As one of the people who played a major part in the axing of Horner, it’s no surprise that Marko’s position is that things have improved.

After all, how much of a relief can it be to score a victory as unequivocal as Monza’s win, enabling the ability to start shifting the narrative of positivity in the immediate aftermath, and take all the vindication that that permits?

But, realistically, how much can really have been revolutionised in such a short period of time, in a sport that it can take months, if not years, to bring about meaningful performance change?

The overhaul, according to Marko, is in how Laurent Mekies – as an engineer – has instigated a change of approach to how the team approaches a race weekend, compared to the habits that were in place under the more business-oriented Horner.

“The difference is that the preparation is a different one,” Marko explained.

“Laurent is an excellent engineer, so it’s more about: Take whatever the simulation is showing you, but mix it with the experience like Max has or the experience our engineers have. Make a car that is predictable and drivable.

“Basically, it’s the same [car]. Some updates were coming and they were working, but 20 seconds on McLaren, I wouldn’t have predicted that.”

Speaking after his win, at a track where he could only manage sixth in 2024, Verstappen revealed that he hadn’t felt like a “passenger in the car”, as he has throughout most of this season, and indicated he had taken a different approach to setting up the car than is usual.

“Up until now, we’ve had a lot of races where we were just shooting left and right a little bit with the setup of the car,” he said.

“Quite extreme changes, which show that we were not in control. We were not fully understanding what to do.

“With Laurent having an engineering background, he’s asking the right questions to the engineers – common-sense questions – so I think that works really well.

“Plus, you try to understand from the things that you have tried, that at one point, some things give you a bit of an idea of a direction, and that’s what we kept on working on.

“I definitely felt that in Zandvoort, we already took a step that seemed to work quite well, and then here another step which felt again a little bit better.”

During the weekend, it was also revealed that Verstappen had won out in a difference of opinion in how to set up the car, with some of the engineers – including technical director Pierre Waché, who revealed his initial reluctance – having wanted to put on a slightly higher downforce rear wing than what the Dutch driver felt he could compensate for.

Marko was thrilled with this, saying, “The engineers are listening more to the driver.

“If you have such a fast and experienced driver, I think that’s the right way.

“He has to drive it, and it was important that our top speed is improving, which we saw we could go away or drive away from the McLarens. And also some other changes, the driver’s input was recognised.

“The whole technical team is more open to discussing things, and they are not blindly taking what the simulation says.”

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Red Bull’s revival: Why it’s too early to claim triumph

While Verstappen’s win does serve as a tremendous shot in the arm for a team that has been beleaguered by the off-track dramas involving its key players for a long time, it’s simply too early to say that the team has fundamentally turned around just yet.

After all, the RB21 has proven competitive in low-downforce setups already this year, and even Horner’s last weekend in charge at Silverstone saw Verstappen take pole position. Had the weather remained dry, that particularly daring low-downforce rear wing gamble could have resulted in a very different result – one which, as at Monza, could have been merely a welcome blip of triumph against an overall stronger opponent.

Even the very first race that Mekies oversaw, the Belgian GP Sprint, netted a win for Verstappen, while, earlier in the year, the RB21 won two races as the four-time F1 World Champion took victory at Suzuka and Imola.

With a car that has clearly always had the potential to win when the stars all align, Mekies’ inheritance of pieces that were already in place before his promotion means he’s not yet comfortable in accepting any of the plaudits being given to him by Marko.

When asked by PlanetF1.com to assess his own level of contribution as an engineer to Red Bull‘s first Grand Prix win since Imola, he was firm in his answer as he distanced himself from the suggestion.

“The answer is a very easy one. The level of contribution is zero,” he bluntly said.

“And I’m not joking either. It’s 1500 people working on making that car faster.

“So these are the addition of this talent that makes the car faster, that makes the hundredths and makes the thousandths, makes the setup options available, and makes a new component available. So the short answer is zero.

“Our only role is to make sure that the talents we have are put in the right conditions to express the talent as best they can.

“That’s the only thing we are doing. That’s the extent of the contribution, and that’s it. Nothing more.”

It speaks volumes about Mekies’ humble, self-effacing nature that he doesn’t want to claim any of the credit, but that’s not to say that he’s not deserving of praise.

What is evident is that, with the civil war that raged at Red Bull for so long, the removal of Horner has resulted in a calming of the waters, with the victors of this war choosing wisely by slotting in a popular and well-liked figurehead, one who can add some additional engineering perspective, all while being a neutral ‘newcomer’ to the team despite his familiarity.

There’s no question that Monza was a step in the right direction for Red Bull, proof that the team can win without Horner’s operational oversight trackside – the last time this team has claimed a victory without Horner at the helm was 26 years ago, when the then-Stewart team won the 1999 European Grand Prix.

But the pieces in place, the existing upgrade path, and the general momentum of the team as it stands are all still areas that Horner decided and influenced, and, as was shown on a few occasions already this year, a single swallow does not a summer make.

After all, while Marko believes “everything is possible” from here for the rest of the season, Verstappen believes similar fluctuations in competitiveness will continue, as it has for most of this season.

“I think it’s still a bit track-dependent,” he said.

“Here, you drive low downforce. It always seems like our car is a little bit more competitive when it’s low- to medium-downforce.

“So it’s not like suddenly now we are back. It’s not like we can fight, I think, every single weekend.

“But the positive is that we seem to understand a little bit more what we need to do with the car to be more competitive.

“So I hope that that carries on into the coming rounds as well, and some tracks will be a bit better than others.”

While Marko was keen to point to a humble Mekies for what was achieved in Monza, a much larger dataset will be required before it’s possible to claim a new and improved Red Bull has emerged from the ashes of the mid-summer revolution at Milton Keynes.

Where Red Bull might be able to prove a definitive improvement over the course of this season is if the RB21 can propel Verstappen to a few more wins this year, particularly somewhere traditionally difficult for the team, such as Singapore, but the true test will be in 2026, as Horner’s influence starts to significantly fade.

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