Laurent Mekis: There is pressing, but it's positive pressing.

      After the end of the first practice in Mexico, Laurent Mekies, head of Red Bull Racing, commented on the session in which rookie Arvid Lindblad set his best lap faster than Yuki Tsunoda and moved up to sixth on the timesheets.

      Question: Arvid Lindblad was called to the stewards, right?

      Laurent Mekies: Yes, that's correct, and although I haven't yet watched the video of the incident, I suppose it wasn't too serious. But it was probably noticeable even from the outside that during the session everyone's GPS systems went down, so it was particularly difficult for the rookies to navigate the traffic.

      Question: Was Arvid running his own programme, and was it different from the tasks Yuki had?

      Laurent Mekies: Yes, we decided to leave very little fuel in Arvid's car so as not to make things harder for him, so he wouldn't have to adapt to piloting a heavy car. He did very well — getting into the RB21 on a real track is not easy, however he showed good pace, and there's no point in arguing with that.

      Question: Max watched Arvid's work from the garage — did he intervene in the session in any way?

      Laurent Mekies: Max takes part in everything we do. It's always interesting to look at all the cars running on track from the side. Although he wasn't behind the wheel, he analysed the telemetry like all our engineers, and it's great that he was with us during this session as well.

      Question: You introduced a number of technical innovations in Mexico: do you think they'll play a role?

      Laurent Mekies: We're checking a couple of things related to the cars that have several new components fitted, but mainly their function is to improve the efficiency of the car's and the brakes' cooling. And we're finding out how all of this works.

      Question: We arrived in Mexico from Austin, where your team performed brilliantly: what can you say about its mindset? Now you have a real chance at the title — is that already affecting the atmosphere in the Red Bull garage?

      Laurent Mekies: We still prefer to approach each race separately. The weekend in Austin really went incredibly well, and I don't think we should underestimate how we performed there. Winning races is a hard task, but Max was magnificent, and of course his results made us all very happy. At the Milton Keynes base everyone is working extremely hard because such results become an additional incentive for everyone. But we don't pay attention to how the championship standings look — we are interested in the results of each session individually.

      We have just completed the first practice, after which we will analyse its results, draw conclusions and prepare for the next session, continue working with the tyres and so on.

      Question: But everyone understands that three drivers are now involved in the fight for the title. At the same time it seems that Max doesn't feel any pressure...

      Laurent Mekies: There is pressure, but it's positive pressure. I think no one is pushing harder than he is right now, and we try to extract everything the car is capable of. We are all united by the same drive.

      Question: And what can you say about the pressure Yuki Tsunoda is under? What tasks are you setting him, and does he have a chance to keep his seat in the team?

      Laurent Mekies: You see, we want to give Yuki and our other drivers as much time as possible. I know we said we might make a decision on the team's lineup after the Mexican Grand Prix, but actually we have no reason to hurry. Yuki had a very decent race in Austin. So we won't rush and will announce our decision when we feel ready to do so.