INTERVIEW: Laurent Mekies has a plan to keep Verstappen at Red Bull

Over 405 Grands Prix, and Horner was trackside for every single one, he guided the team to eight Drivers' titles - four apiece for Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen - six Constructors' championships and 124 race victories. No one can dispute his achievements.

For likeable Frenchman Mekies, his appointment is reminiscent of when David Moyes was tasked with following in the footsteps of Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. Ferguson spent 27 years at Old Trafford, earning himself the status as one of the greatest managers of all time, winning more trophies than any other. Moyes floundered, and United has never been the same club since.

That is not to suggest the same will happen with Mekies at Red Bull. Still, when you are tasked with leading a team previously guided by one man for two decades, and who had turned it into an Formula 1 powerhouse from its early renown of partying harder off track than it performed on it, the job at hand is Herculean.

In fairness to Mekies, this was the opportunity his career has steered him towards. After starting out with Arrows before taking on the role of race engineer with Minardi, he then became chief engineer with Toro Rosso, spending nine years within the Red Bull family before a surprise move to the FIA, where he served as safety director initially and then deputy race director.

In 2018, the 48-year-old joined Ferrari as sporting director before stepping up to become Deputy Team Principal. When the chance arose for Mekies to become a Team Principal in his own right at the start of last year, and in particular returning to Faenza with a team that had grown over the years since his exit and had become known as VCARB, it was a no-brainer.

By his own admission, however, accepting the offer to take over from Horner required thinking time. Quite naturally, it was a left-field opportunity he had not been expecting, taking a call from Oliver Mintzlaff, the CEO of parent company, Red Bull GmbH, and Helmut Marko, Red Bull advisor, "hours before you guys [the media] were made aware".

"They asked me if I would be interested in doing the job," he said. "Obviously, it came out of the blue at that moment for me. I was in the UK at Racing Bulls [its Bicester offices] and it came in a completely unexpected way.

"I asked them to think about it for a few hours, and I hung up the phone. It was difficult to digest. The first thing that came into my mind was, 'Wait a second, it’s Red Bull. They are calling you. They are asking you to step in and do that job, with everything that Red Bull means, with its energy, spirit, and how they go about their racing team'.

"That’s when you pick up the phone and you say, 'Of course. It’s an honour. It’s a privilege'. My first thought obviously went to Christian as well because it was not something I could have expected. He had been nothing other than extremely supportive to me these last two years.

"It’s not a secret that he’s the one who, along with Oliver and Helmut, brought me back to the Red Bull family a couple of years ago. So there was a mix of emotions at that moment.

"But as I said, the dominant one was, 'It’s Red Bull calling'. I guess it’s a matter of loyalty to go towards the brand, and you just say, 'Of course. If you think you need me, I will go there'.”

Prior to those comments, and before taking up centre stage, Mekies warmly shook the hands of many of the media in attendance. It was not a charm offensive, but merely the man being himself, given his affable nature.

Appreciably, his first task was to deal with the shock felt within the factory over Horner's exit. "For sure, the first 24 hours were a big adjustment because nobody was expecting it," he said. "The announcement was a surprise for everyone and a digesting phase for everyone.

"After that, I found a huge amount of support from everyone. They just want to go racing. They are hugely respectful, we all are, of the achievements made under Christian’s leadership. Could I have hoped for more support and openness from the people I’ve met these last two weeks? No.

"Everybody has been incredibly supportive, willing to open the door, willing to speak, to listen, to explain their limitations and strengths, and how we go about going back to the racetrack and fighting at an even higher level."

Mekies revealed there was no animosity from Horner either, instead he had been "nothing else other than supportive even in the extremely difficult context for him. He was the first one to text, the first one to call, which is very impressive".

He is under no illusion of just how difficult an undertaking he faces. Red Bull's crown, and that of its lead driver, Max Verstappen, have slipped of late. It is becoming clear there will be no fifth consecutive drivers' title for the Dutchman in the face of McLaren's dominance.

Verstappen's unparalleled 2023, when he won 19 of 22 grands prix, is now merely in the record books. It will never be forgotten, of course, but from such "a unicorn year", as Horner once described it, form and performance have ebbed away, and many senior figures have also departed, such as Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley.

That slide will have played a part in the thinking of Mintzlaff and Thai co-owner Chalerm Yoovidhya, once a staunch Horner ally, to relieve the Briton of his duties, even though there has been no public announcement as to why he was axed.

Next season, under widesweeping new regulations, there is an opportunity for Red Bull to again impose itself on its rivals. Its task is made that much harder, however, by the fact that it is building its own power unit for the first time via its Red Bull Powertrains arm, envisaged by Horner, who convinced the owners it was time for the team to stand on its own two feet, and to invest in that area.

Mekies knows that in the context of following Horner, like Moyes after Ferguson, "nobody is going to replace his character; nobody is going to replace him like for like".

He added: "I've come in to do the CEO and Team Principal job. Is there any way one can do it in the same way as Christian? No. At least, certainly not me.

"We’ll be relying on the incredible strengths that are in this team. Everybody is stepping up. It’s certainly an opportunity to look for even more empowerment of our people. We talk about how much strength in depth there is in this team, and that’s what you find.

"We will certainly look at this phase as a way to get our incredible people to step up and create together the next competitive advantage for the next regulation phase."

One of the biggest puzzle pieces for Mekies to manoeuvre is that of the future of Verstappen. Sunday's fourth place in Belgium, after Mekies started his time in charge with a sprint win from the Dutchman, means an immediate obstacle has been removed.

A clause in Verstappen's contract would have allowed him to move if he had been outside of the top three in the Drivers' standings going into F1's summer shutdown. Despite the final pre-break round this weekend in Hungary, no matter what unfolds, the 27-year-old is guaranteed to stay for 2026. It puts all the recent talk of a move to Mercedes on the backburner.

As for next year, the understanding is at the same stage, Verstappen will need to be in the top two to ensure he does not move on. Given the new regulations, and the new power unit for Red Bull, anything is possible.

"In terms of priority, I’m sure what Max wants is a fast car," said Mekies. "If we give him a fast car, it cancels out all the other considerations.

"So, the focus is very much to get to know the team as quickly as possible in order to see how we can support, and how we can build the next step of competitiveness in order to get a fast car, and hence make it an easy call for Max."

Images courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool.