There is a very specific feeling around the Red Bull garage after the United States Grand Prix that tells the full story of their recent climb back up the grid. As Motorsport.com Italia reports, Laurent Mekies summed up their mood quite neatly by saying they are a bit frustrated with third place, which is actually good news. It proves just how much the expectations have shifted now that the machine has recovered from its early-season slump.
Max Verstappen crossed the line behind Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc in Austin, unable to actually mount a challenge for the win. Mekies made zero excuses for the pace deficit to Antonelli, admitting straight away that the Mercedes driver simply had too much speed for them. But the real headache for Red Bull came in the fight for second, where their usual tire advantage on softer compounds completely vanished.
Instead of utilizing the soft rubber to pull away, Verstappen suffered heavy degradation across both sets of soft tires during the race. A pivot to a two-stop strategy and a second stint on softs forced them into a corner, especially as rival cars found immense performance on the hard compound. When you finish just seconds behind Leclerc, the hard tire alternative naturally becomes the great what-if of the afternoon.
Then there is the ongoing disaster at the starts, a weakness that refuses to go away. Mekies explained that the trouble reaches almost every department outside of aerodynamics, touching the power unit, gearbox, and torque delivery systems. While they have improved since the start of the year, the deficit hurts infinitely more now that they are actually fighting at the front of the pack. Fixing it fully requires hardware changes that will not arrive until 2027, meaning they simply have to live with the flaw for now.
The power unit itself remains very much a work in progress inside Red Bull Powertrains. Mekies pushed back hard against the notion that the engine side of the project is finished, pointing to thousands of driveability details and deep integration goals still waiting to be tackled. They are developing the machine on all fronts at once.
Add in radio communication glitches for the second consecutive weekend, and you get a clear picture of why raw speed alone is no longer enough. The speed has returned to Milton Keynes, but executing a clean weekend across every single phase is the next massive hurdle. Being upset over a podium finish is proof of a changed team, but turning that frustration into victories demands absolute perfection.
