Christian Horner's replacement Laurent Mekies opens up on his first objective at Red Bull

Christian Horner's replacement as team principal and CEO of Red Bull, Laurent Mekies, claimed that he will focus on meeting people ahead of the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix. The 51-year-old was sacked by the Austrian energy drink manufacturers on Tuesday, July 8, after the end of the 2025 British Grand Prix last weekend, with immediate effect.

The Brit had led the team since their inception in 2005 after they took over Jaguar F1 and had guided them to multiple drivers and constructors' championships over the past two decades. However, owing to the internal power struggles since the beginning of last year, there was mounting pressure on Horner both on and off the track.

Christian Horner is replaced by Laurent Mekies, who had been the team principal of Racing Bulls since last year after joining from Ferrari. In his interview with Auto Racer, Mekies spoke about his first objective post taking over the role and said:

“Now there's only one step left to take, which is to meet the people. Obviously, not even a day has passed at the moment, so I'm looking forward to meeting as many people as possible in the coming weeks. I want to listen to them and understand how this magical machine that is the Red Bull team works,”

Mekies had made the junior team more competitive in the last 18 months and has been influential in providing a better structure for the Red Bull junior drivers at Racing Bulls.

Red Bull team principal chimes in on his dynamic with Christian Horner

Red Bull team principal and CEO Laurent Mekies stated that he felt "surreal" to walk into the Austrian team without Christian Horner's presence, given the latter's longevity.

As quoted by the aforementioned source, the Frenchman reflected on his dynamic with Christian Horner and said:

"It still feels a bit surreal to be here and not see him. It's impossible to underestimate the magnitude of what this team has achieved in less than 20 years of Christian's leadership. I met him 20 years ago when he was the youngest team principal in Formula 1, and it's incredible to see how he's transformed this place to the level it is today.

"A journey that has seen him win several titles. Christian is also the man who, together with Helmut [Marko] and Oliver [Mintzlaff], brought me back into the Red Bull family two years ago, so my first thoughts today go to him.”

Mekies was part of Minardi and Toro Rosso before leaving the team to join the FIA and later reenter the sport with Ferrari. He was also deputy team principal and Racing Director at Ferrari under Mattia Binotto and was pivotal in the Italian team's excellent start to the current generation of regulations.