Tough Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix a 'reality check' for Red Bull, admits Mekies

Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies admits that the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix was a "reality check" for the team, as neither Max Verstappen or Isack Hadjar troubled the leaders.

Verstappen finished P4 during Sunday's 66-lap race in Spain but was aided by the late retirement of Kimi Antonelli ahead, the Dutchman eventually finishing 40 seconds behind race winner, Lewis Hamilton.

The four-time World Champion said afterwards that Red Bull "need to work harder" in order to close the gap to Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren, with Mekies suggesting the team knew they would struggle in Barcelona due to the circuit's high-speed layout.

"I think we were expecting that reality check in Barcelona," he said. "First track with a long straight, mid-speed, high-speed corners. It's probably the first time after China, Japan, where we come back to this sort of track.

"We are expecting certainly a different performance compared to Monaco, where we could suddenly fight for pole. I think this weekend comes from progress because what we are talking about is three or four tenths from pole or three or four tenths from what you need to do to fight for the win.

"That was certainly a very different picture at the beginning of the year on this sort of track. There is still a gap, no doubt, PU side, chassis side, and that's what we need to fight for next."

Hadjar finished sixth having benefitted from the retirements of Antonelli and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, but the Frenchman had to recover after a bad start left him outside the top 10 on the opening lap after starting P6.

Mekies admits this is another area of focus, with Red Bull having experienced bad starts throughout the season, which included Verstappen failing to launch off the line from the front row in Monaco.

"We didn't get a good start. We have had a weak start so far this season," said Mekies.

"It's part of year one as power unit manufacturers. We learned there is a lot of things we need to improve and to work out between chassis side and PU side.

"We have a very good power unit, but it's a power unit that also has a very narrow window and there is many areas where you also make your life a little bit more difficult. So, it's part of the learning process [in] year one."