Red Bull’s culture shift: How Milton Keynes team has evolved without Horner and Marko. Red Bull under Laurent Mekies is a calmer, less pressured environment compared to the Horner-Mark era.

The end of an era

On July 9, just three days after the British Grand Prix, the Christian Horner era at Red Bull officially came to an end. After 20 years as team principal, the British manager was dismissed, and only a few months later, at the conclusion of the 2025 season, the same fate befell the team’s long-time advisor, Helmut Marko. Within six months, the two central—though often contrasting—figures of the Red Bull F1 project were ousted. Today, control of the team rests in the hands of Laurent Mekies. The Frenchman, formerly with Racing Bulls, Ferrari, and the FIA, brings a very different leadership style compared to his predecessors.

A new perspective

Former F1 driver Karun Chandhok, now a respected commentator for Sky UK, highlighted the shift in internal team pressure following the near-simultaneous departures of Horner and Marko. Chandhok explained that this change has eased the tension that drivers now face, particularly for young talents like Isack Hadjar, compared to past teammates of Max Verstappen.

Red Bull under Mekies

“It’s a very different team now that Christian Horner and Helmut Marko are gone,” Karun Chandhok said. “This is the first full year of the Mekies era at Red Bull, and I think it’s perhaps a less stressful environment now.” The carousel of drivers in recent years—Perez, Lawson, and Tsunoda rotating in the team’s second car—seems to have come to an end.

Karun Chandhok continued: “Putting all that pressure on Liam Lawson, giving him two races to prove himself, didn’t work. Something like that will never work. So I hope, for Isack’s sake, that this situation continues. They don’t need him to beat Max. They need him to be a tenth or two behind Max and simply be there if something happens, a problem arises for Max. Just being right behind him—that’s been the case so far,” concluded the former Indian driver.

The transition from the high-stakes, often volatile leadership of Christian Horner and Helmut Marko to the more measured approach of Laurent Mekies seems to be paying dividends for Red Bull’s internal harmony. By fostering a “less stressful” environment, the team is allowing young talents like Isack Hadjar the breathing room necessary to support Max Verstappen effectively without the constant threat of immediate dismissal. As the 2026 season progresses, this cultural evolution could be the key to maintaining Red Bull’s dominance in a more sustainable way, proving that patience and stability can be just as powerful as raw pressure in the world of Formula 1.