Mekies explains his initial targets as Red Bull’s new team boss

Having been promoted to lead Red Bull’s Formula One team, former Racing Bulls team boss Laurent Mekies has explained what he wants to achieve in the early stages in his new role.

Just two days after last Sunday's British Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing announced that Christian Horner will leave the team with immediate effect.

The Briton has been at the helm for almost the entire team's history in F1 but his exit follows a couple of troublesome years of internal struggles since Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz passed away.

Horner has been in charge of Red Bull since the team entered the sport in 2025, serving as team principal for two decades. During that time, the 51-year-old Briton has led Red Bull to six constructors' and eight drivers' world championship titles.

Speaking during a filming day at Silverstone, Mekies has hailed Horner for the results he has achieved with Red Bull over the past two decades.

"The first thoughts are for Christian. It still feels a bit unreal to be here and not to see him. 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."

Explaining his targets for the first stages in his new role, Mekies stressed that he wants to make sure that Red Bull’s employees have everything at their disposal to help the Milton Keynes-based outfit get back to winning ways,

"The focus will really be at making sure that all the talented people here have what they need to perform at their best, because they are already the very best. We'll be focusing on that, focusing on making sure that the Red Bull energy is flowing through the team," he said.

"Together with that, we are not underestimating the challenge ahead. Formula 1 is going to face probably the biggest challenge of regulation in its history, and it has a very particular taste for Red Bull as we go with our own power units.

“It's going to be an incredible challenge, and we will need everyone to go about it all together,” concluded Mekies.