F1 Beyond The Grid Laurent Mekies: relishing Red Bull challenge
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Mar 31, 2026 Laurent Mekies, a seasoned motorsport engineer turned Red Bull Racing Team Principal and CEO, reflects on steering Red Bull through a dramatic 2025 turnaround. He discusses the choice to keep developing the ’25 car, the hefty new Powertrains build with Ford, and contrasts leadership styles and driver approaches. Short, candid takes on Max Verstappen’s discipline, Isack Hadjar’s integration, and Red Bull’s push to close the performance gap.
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Make People Your Primary Job
- The core job of a team principal is to make sure people have what they need to work by empowering them and creating the best environment.
- Mekies emphasises removing distractions and politics so engineers can focus on making the car faster.
Gap To The Leader Is Systemic Not Singular
- Red Bull views their shortfall vs Mercedes as a 360-degree problem across chassis and power unit, not a single weak area.
- Mekies highlights the rapid scale-up: from no power unit factory to 700 people and a credible PU in a few years.
First Test Reward After Intense Powertrains Build
- Seeing the Red Bull car do 100 laps on the first pre-season test day without a shakedown surprised and rewarded the team after intense months of work.
- Mekies used that outing as proof the Powertrains project and factory effort had paid off materially.