红牛车手担忧墨西哥起步，维斯塔潘调侃勒芒式起跑
维斯塔潘表示自己在墨西哥城有争夺杆位的速度，但最后一圈在13号弯锁死，他认为部分原因是诺里斯在最后一段略微挡道；由于周五与劳森的事故被罚退，他最终将从第五位起步。
红牛车手担忧墨西哥起步，维斯塔潘调侃：“勒芒式起跑也一样快”
墨西哥站到第一个弯的直道特别长，起步预计将十分关键。被问及现在是否对起步比近几周更有信心时，维斯塔潘给出了明确回答。
尽管维斯塔潘表示自己在墨西哥城有争夺杆位的速度，但最后一圈在13号弯锁死——据这位红牛车手所说，主要原因是诺里斯在最后一段略微挡了他的道。
按最终的排位赛成绩，这位荷兰车手通常能获得第二排的发车位，但由于周五与劳森的事故被罚退，他将从第五位起步。
这在墨西哥似乎尤其令人痛苦，因为过去在罗德里格斯兄弟赛道，第二排往往被证明是一个很好的发车位置。在通往第一个弯道的直道上，尾流效应很强，因此错过第二排显得更加不幸。
“但你事先无法知道这一点。也许明天我们会想，‘第五名其实也没那么糟’，”维斯塔潘在围场接受荷兰媒体采访时笑着说道。
比发车格罚退更大的问题是，红牛在整个2026赛季一直受困于起步问题，而通往1号弯的极长直道可能会让这个问题在墨西哥变得更加痛苦。
车队领队洛朗·梅基斯已经表示，红牛今年无法完全解决这个问题，因为需要更改硬件，包括离合器，而这些只能在2027年引入。
尽管如此，梅基斯表示希望红牛今年仍能用现有硬件取得进展，就像它相比墨尔本赛季揭幕战已经取得了显著进步一样。
然而，当Motorsport.com问维斯塔潘，他对起步是否比最近几周稍微更有信心时，他的回答简短而直接：
“不，并没有，说实话。”
这部分与墨西哥城的各节练习与排位有关，当时练习赛的起步也并不完全按计划进行。周五，这位四届世界冠军甚至在车队无线电中说：“我觉得我起步冲刺能更快。比如，我在维修区出口末端做起步，简直是灾难。”
“我又一次起步，又一次灾难。为什么我们不干脆改变点什么？或者我干脆来个勒芒式起步，你懂吗？我跑过去，推车，跳进去。然后直接起飞去比赛。”
当荷兰媒体环节提到这番话时，维斯塔潘笑了：“也许我们真该那么做。我觉得那也一样快！”
稍微严肃一点说，维斯塔潘解释说，他没什么办法防止起步问题重演。“有一些事情，但更多是跟（车队那边的）程序有关。但起步本身，我对此做不了什么。”
这与维斯塔潘和队友伊萨克·哈贾尔在奥斯汀的评论完全吻合，当时两位车手都表示，尽管他们在驾驶舱里正确执行了程序，结果仍然不理想。
哈贾尔希望起步能比最近几周顺利一些，但他也强调这将是一次未知的探索——尤其是在周末早些时候出现若干技术问题之后。
“我希望情况会更好，但这个周末我们非常努力。不幸的是，在第一节自由练习中，我们没能跑多少，也没有进行起步练习。今天上午我们做了几次不错的起步，感觉还可以，所以明天看看吧。我们会需要它的！”
英文原文
Red Bull drivers fear Mexico start, Max Verstappen jokes: “A Le Mans start would be just as quick”
With the particularly long run to the first corner, the start promises to be important in Mexico. Verstappen has a clear answer when asked whether he now has more confidence in it than in recent weeks
Although Max Verstappen said he had the pace to take pole position in Mexico City, his final run was ruined by a lock-up at Turn 13 – according to the Red Bull driver, mainly caused by Lando Norris getting slightly in his way in the final sector.
The eventual qualifying result would normally have earned the Dutchman a place on the second row of the grid, but the grid penalty after his incident with Liam Lawson on Friday means he will start fifth.
This seems particularly painful in Mexico, as the second row has often proved to be a good starting position at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in the past. The slipstream is strong on the run towards the first corner, making missing out on the second row seem even more unfortunate.
“But you can't know that beforehand. Maybe tomorrow we'll be thinking, ‘That fifth place wasn't so bad after all’”, Verstappen laughed during his Dutch media round in the paddock.
A bigger problem than the grid penalty is that Red Bull has been struggling with its starts throughout this 2026 season, and the extremely long run towards Turn 1 could make that an even more painful issue in Mexico.
Team principal Laurent Mekies has already indicated that Red Bull cannot fully resolve the problem this year, as hardware changes are needed, including to the clutch, and these can only be introduced in 2027.
Nevertheless, Mekies expressed hope that Red Bull can still make progress this year with the hardware it has, just as it has already made significant improvements compared with the season opener in Melbourne.
However, when Motorsport.com asks Verstappen whether he has slightly more confidence in the start than he did in recent weeks, his answer is short and to the point:
“No, not really, if I’m really honest.”
This is partly related to the free practice sessions in Mexico City, when the practice starts did not go entirely to plan either. On Friday, the four-time world champion even said over the team radio: “I think I could sprint faster off the line. Like, I do the start at the end of the pit lane, disaster.
"I do another start, another disaster. Why are we not just changing something? Or it is better that I do a Le Mans start, you know? I run, push the car and jump in. And then take off for the race.”
When that remark is brought up during the Dutch media session, Verstappen laughs: “Maybe we should really do that. I think it would be just as quick!”
On a slightly more serious note, Verstappen explains that there is not much he can do to prevent a repeat of the start problems. “There are a few things, but they're more to do with the procedures [on the team’s side]. But the start itself, there's not much that I can do about that.”
This ties in perfectly with the comments made by Verstappen and team-mate Isack Hadjar in Austin, where both drivers indicated that although they were following the procedures behind the wheel correctly, the results were still not as desired.
Hadjar hopes the start will go a little better than in recent weeks, but he also emphasises that it will be a step into the unknown – particularly after several technical problems earlier in the weekend.
“I hope it will be better, but we tried very hard this weekend. Unfortunately, in FP1, we didn't get much running and we got no practice starts. We had some decent ones this morning, with an okay feeling, so let's see tomorrow. We're going to need it!”
Motorsport.com ·
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