Second place behind Kimi Antonelli was the ceiling on Sunday afternoon, in Red Bull’s reading, given how the opening lap played out.
“P2 was the absolute best we could have achieved today,” Mekies told F1 TV.
The order came after Verstappen cut the first turn while wheel-to-wheel with Lewis Hamilton, rejoining ahead of both the Ferrari and Antonelli’s Mercedes. The pit wall quickly told him the gain from turn one would not stand.
The five-second calculation
Waiting for the stewards to rule, in the team’s reading, was worse than acting.
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“We would have simply been penalized either five seconds or ten seconds at their discretion,” Mekies said, referring to the standard sanctions applied when a driver keeps a place he was told to give back.
“It’s always going to be a painful and a difficult decision, but the guys on the pit wall had a very, very good look at it,” Mekies added, telling GPFans the team preferred to take the hit immediately rather than absorb a bigger penalty later.
‘Mickey Mouse racing’
Red Bull knew Verstappen would not accept it quietly.
On team radio, race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase told the Dutchman: “We think we should give the position back to Hamilton, that means letting Antonelli through as well.”
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“Mate, what the f**k are you guys talking about? He would’ve shunted it. Like what are you guys talking about? If I just stay on the track, I am out of the race,” Verstappen replied, per crash.net.
When Hamilton later parked the Ferrari with brake failure, Verstappen returned to the subject.
“He can give me the position now, f**king bullsh*t. F**king mickey-mouse racing this is,” he told his team.
Hamilton rejected the accusation.
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“It was pretty good racing to be honest,” the Ferrari driver said. “Nothing to do with me.”
Antonelli extends his lead to 81 points
The turn-one row overshadowed a runaway championship afternoon. Antonelli took his eighth win of the season from 14 Grands Prix and now leads George Russell by 81 points, per Formula1.com. Lando Norris took third after a Virtual Safety Car denied him a shot at the win.
Verstappen served the swap in real time, dropped to fourth, and worked his way back to second by the flag.
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