By Alan Baldwin
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (Reuters) -Max Verstappen said Red Bull could always count on him, as the four-times Formula One champion gave new team boss Laurent Mekies a winning start in a Saturday sprint at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The race was the first since Christian Horner, who led Red Bull into Formula One in 2005, was dismissed by the team’s owners.
Verstappen seized the lead on the opening lap from second at the start and kept McLaren’s Oscar Piastri behind him to secure his and the team’s first win of any sort since Imola in May.
While worth only eight points, the victory was a significant statement after the recent restructure at the Milton Keynes factory.
“The team can always count on me. They will always get my very best, whoever is in charge. They know that. I’m never holding back or anything,” Verstappen told reporters.
“I’m always trying to give them the best possible result, and that’s also what they pay me for. For sure, it’s positive. We need, of course, positive energy, and that’s a great start for us.”
Verstappen said it was too early to talk about further changes to be made at Red Bull and Mekies needed to build relationships and see how the team operated.
“Then at one point, you come to conclusions and maybe you want to change something, and this is something that will happen over the coming weeks, months,” he said.
“So, it’s really early days, but so far, he’s very keen and very motivated, and that’s exactly what you want also. I got on very well with him. So, yeah, it’s been a very good start.”
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ed Osmond)
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