New Red Bull Racing CEO and team principal Laurent Mekies says his first job is to “discover the magic” within the team through meeting personnel, before focusing on the challenge of the 2026 regulations.
Mekies replaced Christian Horner on Wednesday, with Horner being removed from his position after over 20 years running the Formula 1 team. Stepping up from Racing Bulls, Mekies – who was speaking during a filming day at Silverstone – said he still needs to meet as many of the staff as possible before the Belgian Grand Prix, to understand how the team operates.
“The next step, what you cannot wait to do, is to meet the people,” Mekies said. “It’s been not even a day now, so I just can’t wait to meet as many people as possible from this incredible team. You want to discover the magic, to meet the guys and the girls that are doing the magic behind the scenes.
“That’s what the next few weeks will be dedicated to – to try to meet as many of our people as possible, to listen to them, to try to understand this beautiful magic machine that is Red Bull Formula 1 and eventually find ways to contribute and to support [it].”
Mekies says his impression of Red Bull from the outside has always been of a team full of world-class talents, and that he is keen to ensure they can operate at the highest level moving forward.
“I still look at these guys as most people outside of the team look at them. We look at you guys and we see the very best people in the world at what they do. That’s what this team is. Even from being a competitor previously, we look at [Red Bull] as being the sharpest team, having managed to accumulate the biggest amount of talents together.
“We are not underestimating the challenge ahead. Formula 1 is going to face probably the biggest change of regulation in its history, and it has a very particular place for Red Bull as we go with our own power units. So it’s going to be an incredible challenge, and we will need everyone to go about it all together.”
As for Horner’s legacy at Red Bull, Mekies pointed out that his own previous role at Racing Bulls came with Horner’s approval.
“The first thoughts are for Christian. It still feels a bit unreal to be here and not to see him,” he said. “It would be impossible to underestimate the size of the achievement that this team has had under 20 years of Christian’s leadership.
“I met him 20 years ago when he was the youngest team principal in Formula 1. It’s unbelievable to see how he has turned this place to the level at which it is now – and in that journey, the many, many titles and wins. Christian is also the guy that, together with Helmut [Marko, team advisor] and Oliver [Mintzlaff, CEO], brought me back into the Red Bull family two years ago. All the first thoughts are really for him today.”
