红牛披露维斯塔潘美国大奖赛速度下滑原因
红牛车队领队洛朗·梅基斯表示，维斯塔潘在美国大奖赛速度下滑是第8圈碎片所致，并承诺解决哈贾尔的离合器问题。
红牛披露维斯塔潘美国大奖赛速度下滑背后的损伤
洛朗·梅基斯将维斯塔潘的速度下滑归咎于第8圈的碎片，同时承诺解决伊萨克·哈贾尔的离合器问题
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当你的明星车手拿下领奖台后走下赛车，随即在全球直播中直言维修区停站、轮胎和发动机制动全都糟糕透顶时，车队领队就得赶紧拿起最近的麦克风去灭火。
在美国大奖赛上维斯塔潘通过无线电大发雷霆之后，红牛车队首席执行官兼领队洛朗·梅基斯全面进入了公关危机管控模式。梅基斯没有把调校失误的责任推给工程部门，而是把矛头指向了某块不听话的碳纤维。
当马克斯·维斯塔潘抱怨选错了轮胎配方、还要应付糟糕的发动机制动时，梅基斯却声称，赛车在起步灯熄灭后仅仅几分钟就受了伤。
“马克斯的赛车在第8圈左右撞到了一些碎片，因此受了些损伤，”梅基斯在赛后接受媒体采访时表示。“除此之外，我们还有几个问题影响了平衡，结果就是速度掉了、轮胎衰退加剧，马克斯没能守住第二名。”
梅基斯承认，车队根本没有足够的火力去追赶分站冠军基米·安东内利，后者相对轻松地一路驶向得克萨斯的夕阳。
“可以这么说，尽管马克斯以第三名完赛、拿下本赛季第12个领奖台，我们离开奥斯汀时并不完全满意，”车队领队坦言。“今天我们失去了一些优势，我认为我们的速度不足以与基米抗衡，他跑了一场非常强劲的比赛，所以要向他表示祝贺。”
维斯塔潘并不是周日唯一在头盔里大喊的车手。他的队友伊萨克·哈贾尔因离合器故障遭遇了灾难性的起步，随后无线电完全失联，毁掉了他的进站策略。梅基斯没有回避这些机械故障，直接承认车队严重辜负了这位年轻车手。
“伊萨克的情况类似，他的比赛被起步以及比赛中的几个问题所拖累，”梅基斯承认。“起步再次不够完美，但车队正在努力确保我们拥有在未来解决这一问题的工具。”
红牛在 championship 中的一线希望
尽管两位车手都极其讨厌他们的赛车在美洲赛道上的操控表现，红牛实际上却带着一个绝佳的积分榜位置离开了这个比赛周末。
“这是一个充满挑战的周日，但我们会接受这个领奖台，因为我们知道今天没有完全发挥出赛车的潜力，我们会从本周末吸取经验，下周在墨西哥以更强的姿态回归，”梅基斯指出，随后强调了这一巨大的利好。
马克斯·维斯塔潘，红牛车队，伊萨克·哈贾尔，红牛车队
“尽管如此，我们现在已经升至车队积分榜第三位，而马克斯在车手积分榜上距离第二名也仅差六分。”
如果红牛能找到办法阻止小红牛22过度消耗自身离合器，同时针对墨西哥城高海拔空气调校好空气动力学平衡，那么维斯塔潘就处于有利位置，有望在赛季结束前锁定积分榜第二名。
英文原文
Red Bull reveals damage behind Max Verstappen's US GP struggles
Laurent Mekies blames lap 8 debris for Max Verstappen's pace drop while promising to fix Isack Hadjar's clutch issues
For Red Bull fans. Keeping watch on Red Bull Racing, with F1 news, driver updates, technical insight and race analysis from Milton Keynes.
When your star driver gets out of the car after grabbing a podium and immediately tells the global broadcast that the pitstops, tyres, and engine braking were all complete garbage, it is up to the team principal to jump on the nearest microphone and put out the fire.
Following Verstappen's radio meltdown at the United States Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing CEO and team principal Laurent Mekies went into full PR damage control mode. Instead of blaming the engineering department for botching the set-up, Mekies pointed the finger at some rogue carbon fibre.
While Max Verstappen complained about picking the wrong tyre compounds and dealing with awful engine braking, Mekies claimed the car was actually wounded just a few minutes after the lights went out.
"Max’s car hit some debris around lap eight and picked up some damage," Mekies stated while speaking with the media after the race. "On top of that, we had a few issues that hurt the balance and, as a result, the pace dropped off, the degradation increased, and Max couldn't hang on to second place."
Mekies admitted the team simply didn't have the firepower to chase down race-winner Kimi Antonelli, who drove off into the Texas sunset relatively unchallenged.
"It’s fair to say that, despite a 12th podium of the season with Max finishing third, we are leaving Austin not fully satisfied," the team principal confessed. "We lost a bit of our edge today, and I don't think we had enough pace to fight with Kimi, who had a very strong race, so well done to him."
Verstappen wasn't the only driver screaming into his helmet on Sunday. His team-mate Isack Hadjar suffered a catastrophic start due to a faulty clutch, followed by a total radio blackout that ruined his pit strategy. Mekies didn't shy away from the mechanical failures, directly acknowledging that the team severely let the young driver down.
"It was a similar story for Isack, whose race was compromised by the start and then by a couple of problems during the race," Mekies admitted. "Once again, the starts weren’t perfect, but the team is working to make sure we have the tools to fix that in the future."
The championship silver lining for Red Bull
Despite both drivers absolutely hating how their cars handled at the Circuit of the Americas, Red Bull actually walked away from the weekend in a fantastic mathematical position.
"A challenging Sunday, but we’ll take the podium knowing that we didn’t fully realise the potential of the car today, and we’ll take learnings from this weekend to come back stronger next week in Mexico," Mekies noted before highlighting the massive silver lining.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing
"Despite all that, we have now moved up to third in the constructors’ championship, and Max is now only six points behind second place in the drivers’ championship.”
If Red Bull can figure out how to stop the RB22 from eating its own clutch while dialling in the aerodynamic balance for the high-altitude air in Mexico City, Verstappen is in prime position to claim P2 in the standings before the season ends.
Motorsport.com ·
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