‘The perfect person to lead Red Bull’

Racing Bulls duo Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar have given former boss Laurent Mekies the vote of confidence, describing him as “perfect” for the Red Bull Team Principal role following his promotion.

With Christian Horner exiting his position at the helm of Red Bull’s Formula 1 team days after the British Grand Prix, it was also announced that veteran engineer Mekies would step up to take his place as boss of the Milton Keynes-based outfit.

Despite only having a season-and-a-half of experience as a team principal, the 48-year-old has received glowing praise from the drivers he has left behind at Racing Bulls.

“When it was announced, I was on the sim,” said Hadjar during media day at the Belgian Grand Prix weekend.

“It was quite disappointing, to be honest, when I heard the news, because I had a great relationship with him. I still have, I still will, but it’s a bit sad for every team member because he was very appreciated. I’m very happy for him and his new mission now.”

Asked what Mekies will bring to his new team, the Frenchman added: “It’s hard to know fully because he was the only team principal I have had, and only for 12 races. On an engineering point, I didn’t expect a team principal to be that good.

“He has an engineering background, so he was very close to us drivers, and he was very into taking important decisions. He was outstanding in that aspect. If anything, he’s simply going to bring pure performance.”

Lawson has experience of both teams this year, having completed the opening two rounds of the 2025 season with Red Bull before being replaced by Yuki Tunoda at the senior squad. Conceding that Red Bull has endured a ‘turbulent’ period in recent times, the New Zealander said: “I think it’s important that Laurent gets the time he needs, going to Red Bull, because I do believe he’s the perfect person to have that position.”

He continued: “I think he will do great. He’s somebody who cares a lot and is a very good human being. I’ve loved working with him and would love to work with him again in the future in some way. For Red Bull, I think it’s a great opportunity to have Laurent there.”

“[He will bring] a very good environment. Around Laurent, there is naturally always very good energy and he is somebody who is always very supportive. For me, he was extremely supportive last year when I drove for the team, when I made the step to Red Bull and when I made the step back to VCARB. Through that whole process, he has always been very supportive, and even when I was at Red Bull and not racing with VCARB, I always had plenty of communication with him through that as well.

“He’s just a very supportive person and somebody who brings very good energy to the team, and I think that is going to be very good for Red Bull.”