Max Verstappen Pinpoints Red Bull Asking ‘Right Questions’ After Laurent Mekies Replaced Christian Horner

Max Verstappen insisted that Laurent Mekies caused a lot of positive changes at Red Bull, especially improving the car's performance.

Max Verstappen Pinpoints Red Bull Asking ‘Right Questions’ After Laurent Mekies Replaced Christian Horner

Max Verstappen, Laurent Mekies and Christian Horner (via Red Bull)

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In recent years, Red Bull has undergone massive changes, especially in its leadership. Christian Horner was recently fired from his position after serving the team for over two decades. Laurent Mekies took the reins at Milton Keynes as the team then hoped for some stability and improvement. Now, with the performance seemingly improving, Max Verstappen has given his verdict on Mekies’ leadership so far and compared it with Horner.

Laurent Mekies joined Red Bull at an extremely volatile and problematic state. Many key figures left the constructor in recent years in the wake of Christian Horner‘s complicated personal life. The team’s performance turned for the worse as Max Verstappen did not emerge as the favorite to win the 2025 driver’s title. Still, the Frenchman has helped turn the performance around somewhat, and days are looking more promising for the team in the near future.

Following Max Verstappen’s record-shattering triumph at the recent Italian GP, he was full of praise for Laurent Mekies. Speaking on the changes after Mekies’ coming in, Verstappen recalled that the team took a shot in the dark in terms of setup before. The changes were quite extreme and showcased that the team wasn’t in control of their errors, with seemingly no understanding of how to come out of the slump.

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. Quite extreme changes, which show that we were not in control. We were not fully understanding what to do.

Max Verstappen said, as reported by Formula 1

However, after Laurent Mekies came in with his engineering expertise at Red Bull, he started asking the right questions to the engineers. This helped them gain a better understanding of the car and its quirks on the grid. Max Verstappen insisted that the Frenchman asked some common-sense questions to the crew and turned the performance around quite well.

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.

Max Verstappen added

Helmut Marko declares Max Verstappen and Laurent Mekies lead Red Bull’s ‘rebirth’

Helmut Marko was one of the many who had a lot of problems with Christian Horner over their years of working at Red Bull in Formula 1. The two had a power struggle and often clashed heads and commented against one another. While they maintain professionalism, the sour relationship was still evident. Now, Marko weighed in on the changes within the squad under Laurent Mekies.

Max Verstappen, Helmut Marko, Laurent Mekies (via Red Bull)
Max Verstappen, Helmut Marko, Laurent Mekies (via Red Bull)

Helmut Marko insisted that Laurent Mekies is an excellent engineer who focuses more on the simulator data and uses it for performance. Marko noted that Mekies managed to combine the simulator data with Max Verstappen’s experience and extract the maximum performance. As such, after having a drivable challenger, the Austrian declared that Verstappen and the team were going through a ‘rebirth’ under the Frenchman.

Laurent is an excellent engineer, so it’s more about: Take whatever the simulation is showing you, but mix it with the experience like Max has or the experience our engineers have. Make a car which is predictable and driveable. This feels like a rebirth for us — we’re all overjoyed. The atmosphere is fantastic, and the Red Bull spirit is back.

Helmut Marko told motorsport.com

It is now impossible for Red Bull to cover the gap in points in the constructors’ championship. Moreover, the driver’s title for Verstappen seems difficult as he trails the leader, Oscar Piastri, by 94 points. Still, the 2025 season is far from over, with eight races still pending, where Verstappen can potentially emerge victorious and keep on closing the gap to the forefront.

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