Mekies "has always been extremely good at understanding people," claims Leclerc

Having spent several seasons with Laurent Mekies at the Scuderia, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc praised the freshly-appointed Red Bull team boss for his attitude and the way he worked with people.

Just two days after the British Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing announced that Christian Horner would 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.

Red Bull elected to promote Laurent Mekies to lead the Milton Keynes-based outfit.

Mekies began his career at Arrows before working as a race engineer at Minardi. He was promoted to chief engineer at Toro Rosso prior to becoming the safety director and, later, deputy race director at the FIA.

Prior to his time with Red Bull GmbH, he served as sporting director and deputy team principal at Ferrari from 2018 to 2023.

Having spent several seasons with Mekies at the Scuderia, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc has been asked to describe the Frenchman's working style.

"When I worked with Laurent, he wasn't a team principal just yet. He had a very important position within the team. Laurent has always been extremely good at understanding people.

"He's one of those where I didn’t have to speak much for him to understand the way I felt. That’s always very helpful. I've never had him as my team principal, but I've always seen him as a person definitely capable of becoming one.

"It’s great to see what’s happening to him. I’m super happy for him, when he first made the step to AlphaTauri back then and now at Red Bull Racing. He definitely deserves that," concluded Leclerc.

Having worked with Mekies at Racing Bulls since he joined the Faenza-based outfit after last season's Singapore Grand Prix, Lawson highlighted his Mekies' hard-working approach as the Frenchman's main strength.

"Charles said it very well. He's a people person. When he came to us, he straightaway led the team. He's very personal with you, very open to talking on a personal level, especially with me as a driver and to everybody in the team.

"He was somebody that was easy to follow. He’s probably one of my favourite guys in the paddock, honestly. He’s just a very good person, beautiful family.

"Always working very hard as well, one of the guys there on Thursday mornings before most people, pushing very hard. Very cool to see," added Lawson.