红牛关键策略助维斯塔潘夺墨西哥站冠军
红牛在墨西哥站吸取奥斯汀站的教训，做出关键策略调整，帮助维斯塔潘赢得他在墨西哥的第六场胜利。维斯塔潘赛后开玩笑说，应该把这场比赛叫做“Maxico大奖赛”。
红牛的关键策略如何帮助马克斯·维斯塔潘赢得“Maxico大奖赛”
红牛在奥斯汀站时不够“开放”，但车队在墨西哥站立即把这一教训付诸实践。据维斯塔潘和洛朗·梅基斯所说，这促成了罗德里格斯兄弟赛道上的一个关键时刻。
尽管周日罗德里格斯兄弟赛道最重要的主角是基米·安东内利，但F1围场里自然还有另外两条主要故事线：法拉利内部的紧张关系以及弗雷德·瓦塞尔将如何应对，还有马克斯·维斯塔潘在墨西哥的第六场胜利。
赛后新闻发布会上提到后者时，这位荷兰车手立刻开玩笑说：“是啊，他们其实应该把它叫做‘Maxico’大奖赛。那就太好了。”
更严肃地说，维斯塔潘在墨西哥赛道战绩背后有几个因素。在红牛使用本田发动机的那些年，这家日本制造商拥有一款在高海拔地区非常高效的涡轮增压器——部分基于航空工业的知识——这常常让红牛在发动机性能方面具有竞争力。
此外，维斯塔潘本人特别擅长应对传统上让墨西哥赛道变得湿滑的低下压力条件，车手们甚至比平时更容易打滑。
然而在2026年，另一个因素也发挥了重要作用：策略。
红牛立即将奥斯汀的教训付诸实践。
红牛在奥斯汀犯了错误，据其车手所说，车队过于固执地坚持使用较软的配方，不够开放心态去应对比赛中发生的情况，而在墨西哥情况恰恰相反。
由于夏尔·勒克莱尔被罚五秒，红牛立即决定同时进站，尽管这并不完全符合其预先计划的轮胎策略。毕竟，维斯塔潘以中性胎起步，通常本会跑得更久，但红牛明白在罗德里格斯兄弟赛道赛道位置至关重要，那里脏空气的影响显著，而且由于动力单元规则超车也很困难。
刘易斯·汉密尔顿、法拉利、马克斯·维斯塔潘、红牛车队
红牛知道如果它在外跑得更久，就会给勒克莱尔用新胎跑几圈的优势。因此如果更晚进站，维斯塔潘重新回到赛道时就会在勒克莱尔身后。这位四届世界冠军届时会拥有轮胎优势，但红牛选择了赛道位置，这让维斯塔潘非常满意。
维斯塔潘说：“我觉得查尔斯（勒克莱尔）就是拉开差距了。我真的跟不上他。我没有跟上他的速度，但与此同时，我仍然在那个五秒的窗口附近。所以，然后车队，我觉得，做得非常好，跟着他进站。”
除了前面提到的勒克莱尔使用新轮胎带来的危险之外，维斯塔潘说还有一个因素也起了作用：“当你有一个五秒罚时的时候，要恰好把它控制在五秒总是非常困难的，所以我超过了他。”
在实践中，涉及五秒罚时的进站往往需要更长时间，因为技师不想过早接触赛车，因此会留出一定的余量。红牛知道，如果它在同一圈进站，就能从中受益。
这个决定唯一的缺点是，维斯塔潘面临一段特别长的软胎 阶段，这促使比赛工程师詹皮耶罗·兰比亚塞在车队无线电中说，红牛将需要维斯塔潘的一次“神奇的墨西哥 阶段”。
这在练习中也似乎奏效，尽管维斯塔潘在看到安全车出动时担心自己会成为吃亏的那一个。
“查尔斯非常接近，但与此同时，在这里跟车非常困难，因为所有东西都会过热，”他说。“这大概也帮了我，因为我认为在某一刻，查尔斯不得不为了冷却而收油。这对我来说相当不错。”
“但当我看到安全车在最后一个弯角刚过就出来，而我无法进站时，我心想，‘这不可能现在发生’，因为那对我来说大概就是游戏结束了。”
随后出示的红旗也让维斯塔潘有机会更换轮胎，尽管这也意味着将会有另一次静态发车——这未必是红牛今年最强的一点。
世界冠军表示：“最终出现了红旗，所以一切都被重置了。我有点担心，因为我们今年的起步并不算出色，但幸运的是今天两次起步实际上都很好，这让我一路坚持到了最后。”
红牛对勒克莱尔从轻处罚感到意外
车队领队洛朗·梅基斯也在赛后称赞了策略团队，并承认他们立即为美国大奖赛做出了弥补，那场比赛中策略执行未达到理想水平。
“这又是一次极其强劲的执行，”梅基斯说。“车队在比赛日到来时非常强大，他们在每场比赛中都承担了很多风险。命中率相当令人印象深刻，尽管正如你所说，在奥斯汀并非一切都完美。”
“策略组和维修区墙上的人在听说勒克莱尔要进站时，想出的还是那套老办法。那是最好的选择。考虑到罚时，我们和他之间的差距刚好够。我们赌了一把，奏效了。”
洛朗·梅基斯，红牛车队领队
红牛方面也觉得罚时本身相当宽松，正如梅基斯所承认的：“你首先想到的就是那应该是个罚时。因此，看到罚时过了那么久才被确认，我们确实有点意外。
“而且在某些方面，我们也惊讶于只有五秒。因为大概在开出那个罚时的时候，我想勒克莱尔已经领先汉密尔顿五秒了。
“所以感觉有点轻，但事实就是这样。我们有什么就用什么比赛。”
最终，这仍然足以让维斯塔潘取得2026赛季的第三场胜利，这也使他在世界锦标赛积分榜上升至第二位。
然而，这位荷兰车手已经告诉Motorsport.com，在最终积分榜上获得第二或第三名对他而言“毫无意义”，因为他只在乎赢得世界冠军。
英文原文
How Red Bull's crucial strategy call helped Max Verstappen win the "Maxico Grand Prix"
While Red Bull was not "open-minded" enough in Austin, the team immediately put that lesson into practice in Mexico. According to both Verstappen and Laurent Mekies, it led to a crucial moment at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Although Sunday at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez was above all Kimi Antonelli's day, there were naturally two other major storylines in the Formula 1 paddock: the tensions at Ferrari and how Fred Vasseur will manage them, plus Max Verstappen's sixth victory in Mexico.
When the latter came up in the post-race press conference, the Dutchman immediately joked: "Yeah, they should actually call it the ‘Maxico’ Grand Prix. That would be great."
On a more serious note, there are several factors behind Verstappen's track record in Mexico. During Red Bull's Honda years, the Japanese manufacturer had a highly effective turbo at altitude – partly based on knowledge from the aviation industry – which often made Red Bull competitive in terms of engine performance.
In addition, Verstappen himself is particularly adept at dealing with the low-downforce conditions that traditionally make Mexico a slippery affair, with drivers sliding around even more than normal.
In 2026, however, another factor also played an important role: strategy.
Red Bull immediately puts lessons from Austin into practice
While Red Bull made mistakes in Austin and, according to its drivers, stuck too stubbornly to the softer compounds and was not open-minded enough to react to what was happening during the race, the opposite proved to be the case in Mexico.
Due to Charles Leclerc's five-second penalty, Red Bull immediately decided to pit at the same time, even though this was not entirely in line with its own pre-planned tyre strategy. After all, Verstappen had started on mediums and would normally have gone longer, but Red Bull understood that track position was crucial at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, where the effect of dirty air was significant and overtaking was also difficult because of the power unit regulations.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Red Bull knew that if it stayed out longer, it would give Leclerc the advantage of several laps on fresh rubber. With a later pitstop, Verstappen would therefore have rejoined the track behind Leclerc. The four-time world champion would then have had the tyre advantage, but Red Bull opted for track position, much to Verstappen's satisfaction.
"I think Charles just pulled away. I could not really stay with him,” said Verstappen. “I did not have the pace to follow him, but at the same time, I was still around that five-second window. So, then the team, I think, did a really good job to follow him in."
Aside from the aforementioned danger posed by Leclerc on fresh tyres, Verstappen said another factor also played a role: "It's always very tough when you have a five-second penalty to actually make it exactly five seconds, so I jumped him."
In practice, pitstops involving a five-second time penalty often take even longer, as mechanics do not want to touch the car too early and therefore build in a certain margin. Red Bull knew it could benefit from that if it pitted on the same lap.
The only downside to the decision was that Verstappen faced a particularly long stint on softs, prompting race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to say over the team radio that Red Bull would need one of Verstappen's “magical Mexico stints”.
That also appeared to work in practice, although Verstappen feared he would be the one to lose out when he saw the safety car come out.
"Charles was very close, but at the same time, it's very hard to follow around here because everything overheats,” he said. “That probably helped me as well because I think, at one point, Charles had to back off just for cooling. That was quite nice for me.
"But when I saw the safety car come out just out of the last corner and I couldn't box, I was like, ‘there's no way this is happening now’, because that was probably game over for me."
A subsequent red flag gave Verstappen the opportunity to change tyres as well, although it also meant there would be another standing start – not necessarily Red Bull's strongest point this year.
"It ended up being a red flag, so then it reset everything,” said the world champion. “I was a bit worried because our starts this year have not been amazing, but luckily today, twice, they have actually been good, and that then made my way ‘til the end."
Red Bull surprised by lenient penalty for Leclerc
Team principal Laurent Mekies also praised the strategy team post-race and acknowledged that they had immediately made amends for the US Grand Prix, where its execution had not been at the desired level.
"It was once again an extremely strong execution,” said Mekies. “The team is so strong when race day comes and they are taking a lot of risks in every race. The striking rate is pretty impressive, even though, as you said, not everything was perfect in Austin.
"It's the usual suspects with the strategy group and the people on the pit wall that came up with that when we heard Charles was coming in. That was the best option. We had just about the gap to him considering the penalty. We took the shot and it worked."
Laurent Mekies, Red Bull Racing Team Principal
Red Bull also felt that the penalty itself was rather lenient, as Mekies admitted: "The first thing that comes to your mind is that should be a penalty. And therefore we were certainly a bit surprised by how long it took to see the penalty confirmed.
"And in some respects, we were also surprised that it was only five seconds. Because probably at the time they had given that penalty, I think Charles was already five seconds clear from Lewis anyway.
"So it felt a bit light, but it's what it is. We race with what we have."
Ultimately, it still proved enough for Verstappen's third victory of the 2026 season, which also moved him up to second place in the world championship standings.
However, the Dutchman has already told Motorsport.com that finishing second or third in the final standings would mean "nothing" to him, as he only cares about winning the world title.
Motorsport.com ·
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