Max Verstappen proves Red Bull chief wrong with bold Italian Grand Prix choice

After the race, Vording spoke to Motorsport Netherlands’ YouTube channel about what went on behind the scenes at Red Bull over the weekend.

“They listened more to the driver. More specifically, prior to qualifying, and today it became clear that Pierre Wache himself also recognised that there were some people in the team, including Wache himself, who thought after the third free practice session that maybe they should add a little more wing.

“A bit more wing, a bit more downforce. And Max himself said: ‘No, we’re sticking with low downforce, with a little wing, because that’s going to work.’ Well, it certainly worked over one lap, but even more so and surprisingly well in the race, with Max simply pulling away.

“Well, that means that Max not only played an extremely important role on the track, but also behind the scenes in this victory.

“But that new approach, that new philosophy, also earned a lot of praise for Laurent Mekies, the new team boss.

“Marko said: “Yes, the dynamics in the team are very good now. Max and Mekies can talk to each other on a more technical level, which makes sense, because Mekies has that engineering background, of course.‘

“And Verstappen said the same thing when I asked him about it in the press conference afterwards. He said: ’Mekies asks the right questions, and that challenges the technical team.

‘Well, and because of that, they’re getting to the bottom of things that they may have overlooked in recent months.

“Max said that sometimes we were really shooting left, shooting right, and we didn’t really know where to look. Well, that was very different this weekend. So a lot of credit to Mekies as well.”

Max Verstappen’s setup change pays off after Pierre Wache’s pre-race comments

Following Friday’s practice sessions, Wache spoke in an official interview about Red Bull’s approach to the weekend, outlining their focus on car balance, rear wing setup and tyre management.

The team were aware of McLaren’s reputation for strong tyre management heading into the race. But once things got underway, Verstappen showed early on that Norris and Piastri did not hold any clear advantage in that area.

Wache said: “The main thing we will be working on overnight is the balance on the soft and long run optimisation.”

His concerns about graining proved accurate when Verstappen’s tyres began to show signs of wear before his first pit stop.

Even so, the Dutchman’s recommendations played out well for Red Bull. His feedback continues to be a valuable asset for the team and people like Wache.

Ralf Schumacher even suggested that Wache should have left Red Bull along with Christian Horner, pointing to development decisions as a source of recent struggles.

But with new team principal Laurent Mekies choosing to send Wache onto the podium alongside Verstappen, it looks like there is still confidence in his leadership as Red Bull prepares for upcoming regulation changes.