Former Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner was officially let go from the team on Monday, marking his official exit after being relieved of his team principal duties back in July.
According to recent reports, Horner is getting a massive settlement worth more than $70 million to walk away from Red Bull, which was founded more than 20 years ago.
The British executive built the entire staff from the ground up, hiring engineers, technical staff, and drivers who would go on to create race-winning cars and win multiple world championships.
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The decision-makers at Red Bull elevated Laurent Mekies, the former team principal of Racing Bulls, to the role of CEO. Since the swap, the team has already changed. Here are some of the things that are different under Mekies:
Technical Approach
Mekies is a former engineer and carries a lot of technical information from his background and experience. His knowledge has led to a better understanding of the car and what the drivers want from the machinery.
Max Verstappen has directly linked Mekies’ approach to better pre-race meetings.
“Up until now we’ve had a lot of races where we were just shooting left and right a little bit with the set-up of the car,” Verstappen said.
“Quite extreme changes, which shows that we were not in control. We were not fully understanding what to do.
“With Laurent having an engineering background, he’s asking the right questions to the engineers – common-sense questions – so I think that works really well.
“Plus, you try to understand from the things that you have tried, that at one point some things give you a bit of an idea of a direction, and that’s what we kept on working on.
“I definitely felt that in Zandvoort already we took a step that seemed to work quite well, and then here another step which felt again a little bit better.”
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More Risks
The team is welcoming risks under Mekies. The team tried different rear wings in Monza, and also ran used tires in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.
Red Bull ended up rolling with the alternative rear wing in Parc Ferme, and it led to Verstappen taking home the victory eventually.
The results have been positive for Mekies, who has won at Monza and Baku, though it is the learning that he views as most valuable.
“We take risks to get to the maximum understanding possible of what has limited the project this year,” the new team leader said.
“We took risks in Budapest, and it was an extremely poor weekend. We put our drivers in a difficult situation, but we do that to learn.
“We are getting some payback [in Monza]. It’s good learning, the extent of the learning, we will see where it takes us [in] the next few races.”
A Fresh Perspective on Things
Horner has been so involved with Red Bull over the years, getting his hands on every part of the racing team, both on and off the track. His closeness to the team leaves them vulnerable to getting lost in the weeds and missing the bigger picture.
Mekies gives an outsider’s perspective as someone who was somewhat around the team, but at a distance.
While there is a lot of learning along the way, perhaps a review of a team’s actions will lead to a better car in the future.
Red Bull is shifting into a power unit manufacturer in 2026, collaborating with Ford to keep their car development entirely in-house.
For that project and the entire 2026 car, Mekies could make the concept better.
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