{"id":58867,"date":"2026-05-24T17:51:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T17:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/58867\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T17:51:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T17:51:18","slug":"red-bull-braces-for-radio-madness-as-canadian-gp-weather-throws-up-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/58867\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Bull braces for radio madness as Canadian GP weather throws up uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Red Bull Racing<\/a> team principal Laurent Mekies<\/a> has warned that the Canadian Grand Prix<\/a> could trigger a wave of intense and unpredictable radio messages, largely driven by the uncertainty surrounding the weather forecast for the race.Speaking after a difficult qualifying session for his team, the 49-year-old suggested to F1<\/a> TV that the race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve<\/a> could prove to be a steep learning curve for several outfits, particularly if conditions continue to shift. Mekies, who was initially asked about Red Bull\u2019s time deficit to Mercedes, once again the benchmark on Saturday, acknowledged that his side continues to suffer a significant straight-line speed disadvantage to the Brackley-based outfit.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo in terms of straight-line performance, we still see quite a significant gap between Mercedes and us. And you know, you are talking about three tenths to pole. So if there is a significant gap in the straight line, it means, you know, at least half of the difficulties is happening there, probably with more than half of the deficit today is happening in a straight line. So we know it’s something we need to work really hard on too,\u201d Mekies noted.<\/p>\n

\"Laurent<\/p>\n

Red Bull Racing team boss, Laurent Mekies – Photo: Red Bull Content Pool<\/p>\n

Despite that concern, the Red Bull boss remained measured about Sunday\u2019s prospects, predicting chaotic and highly engaging communications across the pit wall.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of what’s going to happen tomorrow, honestly, I think it’s going to be a massively steep learning for everyone. You will hear a lot of entertaining radio conversation because it’s going to be new for everyone. It’s going to be tough. There’s a combination between do you get the grip, do you get the power, do you not get the grip and still get the power. It’s going to be very tough, but sooner or later we have to race in the wet with these cars and it’s going to be exciting to watch,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

The weather for the Canadian Grand Prix is poised to feature rain showers around the scheduled start time of the race. Earlier, the FIA declared the race a rain hazard, with the chances of rain exceeding 40%. Red Bull, on their part, endured a mixed Sprint weekend, with only Max Verstappen scoring points after Isack Hadjar suffered an engine issue, while both drivers could only manage sixth and eighth on the grid for the Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Verstappen frustrated with Red Bull\u2019s qualifyingVerstappen cut a frustrated figure<\/a> after Canadian Grand Prix qualifying, openly questioning the unpredictability of the RB22 machinery. The four-time world champion struggled throughout the session, initially reporting difficulties bringing his tyres into the correct operating window before also highlighting a lack of straight-line speed.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Dutch outlet Viaplay, Verstappen admitted he was baffled by the behaviour of the car and claimed the team also appeared uncertain about the underlying issues. He added that repeated questions over team radio went unanswered during the session.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually have no idea what was going on throughout qualifying. All very strange. With every lap I did, the more I drove, the slower I got on the straights. Of course, I often gained lap time in the corners. And then I basically lost more than I gained on the straights,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if we did everything right there, but I asked a few times and heard nothing. I got nothing, no feedback. So I just drove my laps. But it wasn\u2019t all that great. A bit better over the kerbs and the bumps, but then I lost downforce with that setup. So in the end it didn\u2019t make much difference. You end up going around in circles. They probably don\u2019t know themselves either,\u201d Verstappen concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Red Bull Racing team principal Laurent Mekies has warned that the Canadian Grand Prix could trigger a wave…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,15721,22457,17535,17532,1817,25585,24065],"class_list":["post-58867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-canadian-grand-prix","tag-circuit-gilles-villeneuve","tag-f1","tag-f1-news","tag-formula-1","tag-laurent-mekies","tag-red-bull-racing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}