Laurent Mekies’ Red Bull: Improvements of the new team boss
- Maham Mir
- 41 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Written by Maham Mir, Edited by Marit Everett
When Christian Horner was dismissed from his position as Team Principal of Red Bull ahead of the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen was languishing over 100 points behind then-championship leader Oscar Piastri. Red Bull, in the World Constructors’ Championship, were fourth behind reigning champions McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari.
However, fast forward to the end of the season, Verstappen finished just two points behind World Champion Lando Norris and Red Bull recovered to finish P3 in the WCC standings. While Verstappen’s excellent form must be highlighted as the reason for the bounce back, the arrival of Laurent Mekies cannot be understated in contributing to a team-wide shift.
Mekies, who previously led the Red Bull sister team Racing Bulls, seemed the perfect replacement for Horner who had been with the team since its creation in 2005. The former engineer turned leader worked with many Red Bull drivers and oversaw the games of musical chairs played between promotions and demotions within the Red Bull family.
After taking over as both Team Principal and CEO, the first few race weekends for the Milton Keynes outfit were tough. However, this continued run of less-than-ideal performances was not to last. Returning from the summer break, Verstappen finished on the podium in all 10 of the races in the latter half of the season with six of these podium visits to the top step.
At the Yas Marina Circuit, Verstappen won his eighth race of the season but ultimately fell short by two points to competitor Norris. Speaking after the race, Mekies noted that: “it’s an amazing comeback. It’s an amazing win.”
Following up this statement about the four-time world champion’s drive, Mekies also gave credit to his team back at the factory. He highlighted that he was “very, very proud of the amazing job everyone in Milton Keynes has done to give us not only that race but a sensational comeback in the second part of the year.”
There can be no doubt that the performance of the Red Bull team in the second half of 2025 was nothing short of exemplary. Mekies as Team Principal not only delivered the results required of him by turning the languishing team back into race winners but also started a change in mindset for the team.
The desire to win, something built into Red Bull’s DNA as a team, is still front and centre. Yet Mekies’ Red Bull side, unlike that of his predecessor, is focused on “pure racing spirit”. In an interview, Mekies commented that the Milton Keynes based team were committed to “push[ing] to the limit and beyond” in the next set of regulations.
While the core DNA of the team has not changed, Mekies brought fundamental shifts to two aspects of the floundering Red Bull team in 2025. A stronger sense of engineering direction as well as a radically different approach to the second seat are what have brought the team out of their downward spiral.
His appointment as Team Principal follows a new trend within the F1 paddock of teams hiring former engineering staff for managerial positions. With Newey becoming the Team Principal for Aston Martin for 2026, more than half the grid’s top managerial position will be occupied by individuals with a background in engineering.
Mekies’ engineering background, as well as his years of experience with the Red Bull engine given his time at the sister team, brought a distinct change from Horner’s perspective and direction. Throughout the course of the season, Verstappen was vocal about wanting to take his car’s set-up in a different direction to that proposed by his engineers. One of the most prominent examples of this was the Italian Grand Prix.
After a less-than-ideal start to the weekend where Verstappen found himself outside of the top three for all three free practice sessions, a driver led change in set-up saw the Dutch driver’s fortunes change. After setting the fastest lap in F1 history with his pole position lap, Verstappen rewarded Mekies’ new engineering strategy with his first Grand Prix victory.
In an interview after his dominant victory in Monza, the four-time world champion clearly highlighted his new team principal as one of the reasons for the win. He stated: “with Laurent having an engineering background, he's asking the right questions to the engineers—common-sense questions—so I think that works really well.”
However, one of the biggest storms that Mekies had to weather when inheriting Horner’s team was the question marks that remained over the second Red Bull seat and the driver occupying it. Over the course of 2025, two drivers partnered Verstappen: Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda.
For Lawson, who held onto the seat for only two race weekends before being demoted, his experience of driving for the senior team was determined by Horner. Horner’s approach to managing the second seat has always been noted as harsh and Lawson joined other drivers such as Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon in being demoted shortly after performances not up to par.
As a result of the demotion, Lawson was reunited with Mekies at Racing Bulls where he went on to score a total of 12 points. Once Mekies had been promoted to Red Bull, his work with Tsunoda continued after their brief partnership at the sister team.
Mekies, unlike Horner and his working relationship with former second seat drivers, publicly reiterated his support for Tsunoda amid a series of up and down performances throughout 2025. After the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where Tsunoda produced his season best result of P6, Mekies outlined “it's his best, not only result, but also race pace with us […] I’m very happy for him.”
Despite the support that Tsunoda was given, he was not offered the full-time race seat for 2026 and instead this position was offered to his former teammate, Isack Hadjar. Even when discussing the demotion, the first one to take place during his tenure at the head of the team, Mekies was still full of praise for Tsunoda. He stated: “I hope, and I think, that Yuki will get another chance.”
Tsunoda will remain within the Red Bull family as a test and reserve driver for the main team. After the announcement of his new position, he again got the vote of confidence from his team boss as Mekies outlined that “I am confident that he has a lot in him that will allow him to have another opportunity.”
There can be no doubt that the partnership started between Mekies and the Red Bull team will have success in the future. With the start of the new season fast approaching, and the radically different cars set to take to the track, the stopwatch will have the final say about just how much success this pairing will be able to produce.
