Portugal Colonial - New Red Bull boss says team can power Verstappen to fifth title

Mekies made clear that he was not forecasting that the four-time champion Dutch driver would win the title, but that he and the team had the performance to win any of the six remaining races.

Verstappen, in third place, trails series leader Oscar Piastri of McLaren by 63 points with Lando Norris, also of McLaren, second 22 points adrift.

It would take a record swing for Verstappen to overhaul the gap.

"I think it is fair to say that we think we have enough potential in the car now to be in the fight on most of the tracks going forward,” Mekies told reporters ahead of sprint qualifying at the United States Grand Prix.

"Now, it doesn't mean that we will be able to win, but if we do nail everything out of the car, if we extract everything out of the car on a given track, then we think we will be able to fight for the win.

"It doesn't mean that we're able to do that every race weekend. It doesn't mean that we won't get beaten on any of the race weekends, but it means that we should be in that group that fights for the win."

The soft-spoken Mekies has rejuvenated Red Bull with a steady run of improved results including two wins and two seconds since the August "summer" break as Verstappen moved back into contention for a late title challenge.

E.Raimundo--PC