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In an ultimate attempt to turn the tide, team boss Christian Horner was fired by Red Bull Racing on Wednesday. His successor is Laurent Mekies, the French engineer who currently leads Racing Bulls. Who is Mekies and can he help Max Verstappen’s team move forward?
The 48-year-old Mekies joins Red Bull in a hornet’s nest. One advantage: he has years of experience in the biggest hornet’s nest in Formula 1. From 2018 to 2023, he was active at Ferrari.
His second advantage: Mekies has much more technical know-how than Horner. The appointment of Andrea Stella at McLaren shows how that can play out within the technically extremely complex premier class. Making decisions may be better if you, as a manager, also fully understand the matter yourself.
Horner’s successor may not be such a well-known name to the general public. But he has been a familiar face in Formula 1 for years. He is not known as someone who seeks much attention, but is usually a good and calm communicator who steadily makes a career in the sport.
His career began with the team he now rules. Minardi was a backmarker formation, until Red Bull bought the Italian team in 2006 and renamed it Scuderia Toro Rosso.
So Mekies already has experience within the Red Bull family. But more important is his background as an engineer. His specialization: aerodynamics of cars, a crucial area in Formula 1. Mekies has been active in motorsport since 2000. Via engine builder Asiatech (with which Jos Verstappen drove for Arrows in 2001), Minardi (where he was engineer for Christijan Albers) and Toro Rosso, the Frenchman ended up at the FIA in 2014.
Introduction of Halo happened under the leadership of Mekies
At the motorsport association, Mekies was subordinate to the legendary race director Charlie Whiting. He was also responsible for safety. Under Mekies, the FIA introduced the halo. The safety bracket proved to be a golden find. There is little doubt about the life-saving role of the halo in, for example, the crash of Romain Grosjean in Bahrain in 2020.
Ferrari was the next chapter for Mekies. His move from the FIA in 2018 was somewhat sensitive. Competing teams grumbled that an engineer with so much information about all teams and excellent knowledge of the FIA just walked into a racing stable like that. But it could not be forbidden.
At the Scuderia, Mekies eventually ended up as deputy team boss, first behind Mattia Binotto and later behind Fred Vasseur. He experienced the era of Sebastian Vettel and the rise of Charles Leclerc, but was also involved in the period in which the strategy was a mess. Mekies himself was not necessarily responsible for this. The engineer ultimately proved to be a good manager who could also stand on his own two feet.
Since 2024 he has been doing this at Racing Bulls, although that team also has a CEO with Peter Bayer (who also comes from the FIA). Coincidence or not, since Mekies joined Red Bull’s sister team, there has been an upward trend. He appointed his successor Alan Parmane himself and also brought technician Tim Goss to the team. Goss has a lot of experience at McLaren and Mercedes.
An enormous task package is ready for Mekies
Mekies himself is now CEO at Red Bull Racing. In that regard, he immediately gets an enormous package of tasks.
From next year, Red Bull will not only be a car builder, but also an engine manufacturer. Under Horner, a modern engine factory has been built from the ground up in Milton Keynes. The first engine should already be in the back of the Red Bull in 2026. There are Ford stickers on it, but it is mainly a product of Red Bull itself.
Under Mekies, the technological disadvantage that Red Bull has suffered must first be made up for. In particular, Red Bull’s wind tunnel is outdated. It dates back to the Cold War and is being replaced.
Red Bull must stir on the technical transfer market
But Formula 1 is mainly about capable people. Red Bull has lost too many of them in a short period of time. Adrian Newey, Rob Marshall and Jonathan Wheatley had already left. Will Courtenay, the man behind the team’s usually brilliant strategy, will still do so. Those names must be replaced and that is now (partly) on Mekies’ plate.
He must also stick the thermometer in the current technical team. Is top man and compatriot Pierre Waché still the right man in the right place? In recent years, the technical transfer market in the premier class has been more important than the driver market. Red Bull must start stirring on this.
Finally, Mekies must ensure that he has a good relationship with Helmut Marko, the link between Red Bull in Austria and the team. Marko was ultimately the man who brought Vettel and Verstappen to the team. It is part of the overall mission to get everyone in the team pointing in the same direction again. Then there is a chance that Verstappen will actually serve his contract until 2028.
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