Laurent Mekies does not believe Red Bull needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. Despite losing several senior figures who helped shape its success over the past 16 years, the team principal’s priority is to protect the organisation’s winning DNA, develop the talent already inside Milton Keynes and repay the enormous vote of confidence represented by Max Verstappen’s long-term commitment.
Red Bull is reorganising after the departure of several influential figures, including Adrian Newey and Rob Marshall, but its strategy is centred primarily on internal resources rather than wholesale reconstruction. There are also encouraging signs from the team’s first in-house Formula 1 power unit, developed with Ford, a partnership that could expand further in the future. Mekies outlined that vision in an exclusive interview with FormulaPassion in the Monza paddock.
Laurent Mekies: Red Bull must protect a winning team, not build one
Mekies began by making a fundamental distinction about the challenge facing Red Bull.
“First of all, we are not in a situation where we need to build a winning team. This is the same team that has won more than anyone over the last 30 years. There have been two winning cycles, separated by a more complicated period. We are not approaching the situation as if we need to build a winning team, but asking ourselves how to protect a successful team so that it can continue to perform at the same level.”
That task has become more complex following the loss of several senior figures who played important roles in Red Bull’s rise. The exits of Adrian Newey and Rob Marshall stand out, but Mekies stressed that the process has unfolded over several seasons rather than suddenly.
“The fact that there have been departures of senior figures over the last four or five years is nothing new. It is something that started a few years ago and it is a fact,” Mekies said.
“That means our number one priority is making sure we build an environment where our talent can develop and where everyone in the paddock wants to come. We think we have the best talent. This is a team that creates a lot of talent, people who then become famous and perhaps, after 10, 15 or 20 years, leave. That’s part of life. However, the fact that the team can create and develop talent is very important to us.”
Red Bull reviews every department to identify where it can improve
One of the projects undertaken under Mekies has been an internal review designed to establish Red Bull’s strengths and identify where reinforcements may still be required.
“We have an extraordinary talent base. Together with our management group, we carried out a department-by-department analysis to understand whether we have the best people and how we can strengthen the team.”
“We believe we have the best talent in-house and that puts us in an extraordinary position. We are completing the team where we need people from outside, but without any philosophical issue about doing so.”
Racing Bulls represents one possible pool of talent, although Mekies insists Red Bull will not restrict itself to promoting people from within its own organisation.
“Racing Bulls is like the other teams. The number one priority is having an environment that allows you to create and develop talent. Once you have done that, you need the open-mindedness to recognise where something is missing, whether that is expertise or experience, and be ready to go and get it from outside. That’s what we are doing calmly.”
Mekies knows the sister operation particularly well, having served as Racing Bulls team principal before moving to Red Bull. Earlier in his career he also worked as Ferrari sporting director, giving him first-hand experience of very different Formula 1 cultures.
Mekies wants to protect Red Bull’s uncompromising racing culture
For Mekies, those cultural differences are one of Formula 1’s strengths. However, he does not want his previous experiences to dictate how he approaches Red Bull.
“Every team is different. There is a big difference in approach and culture between every team. That is a richness, and as far as I’m concerned I’m trying not to let myself be influenced by past experiences.”
“I try to approach every adventure with the most open mind possible, with the desire to learn and to take risks. Red Bull symbolises a very pure approach to racing. It is something we want to protect and something on which we accept no compromise. Our daily battle is to protect that and make our approach even more extreme.”
That philosophy has become particularly important during a difficult 2026 campaign in which the RB22 has exposed weaknesses that have limited Max Verstappen compared with his title-winning seasons.
Max Verstappen’s commitment brings responsibility for Red Bull
One of Mekies’ most significant achievements has been securing Max Verstappen’s renewed commitment to Red Bull. The four-time world champion’s importance extends far beyond what he contributes behind the wheel.
“Max’s influence away from the track is gigantic. Going back to what we were discussing before, you want the best department by department, starting with the drivers. That sends an important signal to all of us.”
“We are here with one single objective, which is to get back to winning as quickly as possible, and that is what we are doing with this vision.”
Verstappen has committed his future to Red Bull until the end of 2030, giving the organisation a crucial foundation around which to shape its next competitive cycle. The Dutchman remains central to the team even during a season in which results have been significantly more difficult to achieve, with his wider 2026 campaign covered in GP-News’ Max Verstappen section.
Mekies sees Verstappen’s choice as a powerful endorsement of Red Bull’s prospects.
“The fact that Max, with his knowledge of Formula 1 and beyond, assessed that the team where he will have the best chance of winning over the next few years is Red Bull is an important signal for our people and for those we will try to attract in the future.”
“It is an extremely important vote of confidence, which we accept with all the responsibility that implies. That enormous trust comes together with the responsibility to repay it, to give him the best car and power unit possible.”
That responsibility is especially significant given the expectation created by Max Verstappen’s new Red Bull deal through 2030 and the team’s determination to begin another championship-winning cycle.
Red Bull’s ‘crazy’ gamble to build its own F1 power unit
The 2026 season marks a historic change for Red Bull, which for the first time is racing with a power unit produced within its own organisation in partnership with Ford.
Unlike the chassis team, Mekies accepts that Red Bull Powertrains genuinely did have to build a winning organisation from nothing.
“There, it really was about building a winning group from scratch,” he said. “Starting a project like that from a blank sheet is a decision that perhaps no company in the world could make apart from Red Bull.”
“Thinking about starting from an empty field in Milton Keynes, building the infrastructure, finding the people and producing a Formula 1 powertrain to compete against manufacturers who have been doing this for 90 years might seem crazy, but it is the kind of craziness Red Bull likes.”
The Red Bull-Ford power unit has emerged strongly from the first year of the new regulations, but Mekies is under no illusion that the programme has already reached its ceiling.
“It is still a first year, with all the difficulties you can imagine for a project like this, even if some of them are not visible. One thing is certain, though: they have done an extraordinary job.”
“As with the trust Max has shown, the level at which the power-unit department was ready is another demonstration of the ambition behind the entire project.”
Ford partnership could expand into new areas
Ford is an important partner in Red Bull’s power-unit project, and the two organisations are already considering ways of deepening that relationship.
“As time passes and the relationship becomes increasingly close, we are exploring ways to collaborate in more areas, whether that is on the technical side or elsewhere,” Mekies explained.
“One of the strengths of the partnership with Ford is bringing together two companies with incredible histories in racing and which share a truly pure approach to going racing.”
Red Bull’s progress with its first in-house power unit forms a central part of the wider effort to restore the team to the front after a difficult transition into Formula 1’s new technical era.
Laurent Mekies also wants Formula 1 cars to race flat-out again
Mekies’ attention is not limited to Red Bull’s future. Like every team principal, he is also involved in discussions over the direction Formula 1 itself should take beyond the current regulations.
“We are living through an extraordinary moment in terms of where our sport is today, with the growth in fans and interest around the world. We have become a global sport.”
“For years and years we searched for these fans and now, finally, we have engagement that has been growing for six or seven seasons. Every time we think we have reached the maximum and then the following year we have even more fans.”
“We need to approach all of this responsibly and establish where we want to take our sport in the next phase. One of the things we definitely want to rediscover is the ability to race flat-out. At the same time, we want to continue being a technological laboratory. Those are the key points we want to carry forward into the next phase.”
F1 power units could become simpler but remain technologically extreme
The broad direction being discussed for Formula 1’s next generation of regulations is to simplify the current power units and reduce the electrical component. Mekies, however, believes that describing anything in Formula 1 as simple is inevitably relative.
“Between the chassis and engine departments, we still have 2,000 people at Red Bull,” he said.
“Even when we talk about simplification, we are still dealing with extraordinary levels of complexity. Whatever the balance between electric and combustion power, we will continue to be a technological laboratory because we will push these areas so hard that, in the end, the precise split of the power will matter very little.”
That encapsulates Mekies’ broader Red Bull strategy. He does not want to erase what came before and start again. His objective is to protect the aggressive racing culture that produced two championship-winning eras, give the organisation’s existing talent room to grow, strengthen individual departments where necessary and ensure that Red Bull can repay Verstappen’s faith with another car and power unit capable of fighting for Formula 1 titles.
Leave a Reply