Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Interlagos, 2025

Max Verstappen’s shock exit from the first round of qualifying was the result of a drastic change in set-up since the sprint race, said Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies.

Both of the team’s cars went out in the first round of qualifying at Interlagos. Verstappen is due to start Sunday’s race from 16th on the grid.

“Obviously, nobody expected something like that,” Mekies told Sky. “We have been unhappy with the car pretty much since we got here and you heard our struggles through the practice session and sprint quali and sprint [race].”

He said the team decided they had to take a more aggressive approach to their set-up to have a chance of fighting for victory.

“We were at a point where we could not fight for the win, but we could fight with the group just after,” he said. “It’s fair to say that we took some more risk before qualifying to try to see if we could put the car in a better place and it obviously went the opposite direction.

“So that’s where we are now. It’s sometimes a price you pay when you take a risk. It cannot always go your way. It’s painful but it’s something we can learn from and improve.”

Verstappen finished fourth in the sprint race. Mekies indicated the changes the team made afterwards were quite drastic.

“We did take some risks,” he said. “We did change significantly the car because that’s the sort of risk you need to take if you want to give yourself a chance to put the car back in a window where it could fight for something bigger than where we were this morning.

“It went the opposite direction, so now we are where we are. But I would not say it was fine-tuning, it’s bold changes, we have been bold in our approach for a long time. That’s the way we go racing. And sometimes in hurts.”

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