Why new Red Bull F1 boss is undaunted by leadership challenge in ‘not overwhelmed’ assessment

Red Bull’s Laurent Mekies says he isn’t overwhelmed by the challenge of leading a front-running team for the first time in his F1 career.

The Frenchman was recently promoted to lead Red Bull’s F1 efforts as team boss and CEO, replacing the axed Christian Horner after the British executive was removed from his posts after a very successful two-decade stint in charge.

Laurent Mekies: Red Bull’s talent pool will be fuel for success

Having won multiple championships in recent years, F1 2025 is the first season in the current regulation cycle which Red Bull’s car has never looked like the class of the field.

While Max Verstappen has taken two Grand Prix victories this season, his chances of securing the Drivers’ Championship for a fifth consecutive title appear very remote as the two McLaren drivers have been relentlessly successful this year.

After a poor British Grand Prix, the team’s lack of relative performance as a front-runner appears to have led to the parent company, Red Bull GmbH, opting against allowing Horner to remain in his roles, although the exact reasons behind the removal of Horner have not yet been made public.

In his place is Mekies, a personable and jovial French engineer whose most recent experience was that of leading the Racing Bulls outfit as team boss. Prior to this, he’s also had stints at the FIA and a long tenure at Toro Rosso, while his immediate role before taking up the team principal role at Faenza was as sporting director at Ferrari.

His new job, then, is the most high-profile of his career, and leading a team used to victories and championships is a very different challenge to the rebuild project he was overseeing at Racing Bulls.

In his first few weeks in charge, little has changed in terms of outright competitiveness on track, although this is unlikely to be scrutinised too much until next year’s revolutionary ruleset resets the board.

In Hungary, Red Bull scored a small number of points as Verstappen came home in ninth place in the Grand Prix, while Yuki Tsunoda finished outside the points.

In reflecting on his first few weeks in charge, Mekies denied feeling in any way daunted by the new career challenge his post represents.

“We don’t underestimate what is ahead of us. A top team has a target to win, and the biggest difference with the competition in the midfield is that, at every race weekend, you come back and there is only one answer: did you win or did you not?” he said, in response to a question from PlanetF1.com after the Hungarian Grand Prix.

“That sets the level of expectation of everyone, also the level of pushing that you need to apply to every single sector to compete. So we enjoy that. Red Bull Racing enjoys that.

“If you walk into the factory, you will find people that are only there to win and and it’s a very strong feeling, of course.

“Resilience is important in this sport, and you get weekends like this one, where you feel the world is not going the way you would like it to be.

“But, again, there are so many talents, so many skills, so much experience in the team that we all very well know, outside of the noise of the race track, we very well know that we will make steps, thanks to talent like that.

“So no, it is not overwhelming. It’s a sentiment that we all went through more often than not, and I’m sure it will be the fuel for the future success of the team.”

F1 2025: The season’s winners and losers

👉 The results of the F1 2025 championship

👉 The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings

Red Bull is currently on a recruitment drive for its team and Powertrains division; these are jobs that Mekies will now have a contributing voice in who fills them.

With Red Bull moving on from the Horner era, the coming months will see Mekies slowly but surely mould the team in his image, although he believes his primary role is not in refreshing the team for the sake of it.

“It’s not about stamping your identity, it’s not the way we look at it,” he said.

“In the first couple of weeks, it’s about meeting the people, understanding the people, eventually, trying to see where the strengths and the weaknesses are, and, eventually, trying to see how we can support them to better contribute.

“Try to understand where the limitations are that would slow us down in building a more competitive advantage. This more competitive advantage will turn into a faster car in the coming years. So that’s what we are trying to do.

“It’s not stamping an identity.

“We certainly want to put our people at the heart of the projects, and that’s what we’re trying to do, not only in these first few weeks, but also moving forward.”

Certainly, it’s been a rapid change in circumstances for Mekies, who is now facing a very different second half of the year to what he was anticipating just a few short weeks ago.

As he explained to the Inside Track podcast, the moment of finding enjoyment in his new role is yet to arrive, but he’s in no doubt that it will come.

“I don’t think you get the enjoyable feeling yet because it came out of the blue,” he said.

“You very quickly realise that only full immersion can give you a chance for it to work from that point otherwise.

“So it’s been full immersion ever since, so no space for the enjoyable side.

“But I cannot deny being honoured, being privileged to be given that chance. That’s the feeling you get. Does it transform into enjoyable? I’m sure it will, soon.”

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