The 28-year-old driver has admitted he is considering walking away from the sport due to his unhappiness with new regulations, and he has also been left frustrated by his performance on the field, having gone three consecutive races without a top five finish.

But after the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix were cancelled due to the conflict in the Middle East, there are no races in April and so Mekies is hopeful of making a "very good step forward" ahead of the Miami Grand Prix in May.

He told Sky Sports: "We need the time to simulate back what we see in the data into the tunnel, into our simulator, try some sensitivities and all of that we can do without racing.

"Does it mean you come to Miami and you have solved everything as a miracle? No, but again, am I confident that the team will get to the bottom of that understanding and start bringing improvements already in Miami. That's what we will see but only the track and the lap time will give us an indication on whether we go into the right directions.

"I don't think we should expect miracles about the amplitude of closing the gap because the is substantial but what we would like to see is to have a car where our drivers can push again, measure a gap to competitions in these conditions when we are able to push and then the rest will be pure development to the end of the year."

While Mekies has had "zero discussions" with Verstappen over his future in the sport, he is hopeful Red Bull can make him "much happier" with changes to his car.

He said: "We have a lot of work to do. I'm sure by the time we give him a fast car, he will be a much happier Max.

"By the time we give him a car he can push and make the difference with, he will also be a happier Max. Honestly that's 100 per cent of our discussions right now.

"As per the regulations, they are coming with some good aspects and more tricky aspects and as a sport, with the other teams, we will meet in the break to see how we can tweak them to make things better."