Christian Horner successor is sailing Red Bull F1 into more choppy waters
Always happy to play the pantomime villain, Horner was a divisive figure long before last year's scandal that rocked Formula 1. Even though he denied and was cleared of accusations of inappropriate behaviour towards a female colleague, it was a PR disaster for both Horner and the company.
Performance and the unwavering support of Red Bull's Thai majority owner Chalerm Yoovidhya helped to protect him, even from waves of attacks coming from the firm's Austrian CEOs and Max Verstappen's dad Jos. But now Red Bull are struggling, and Jos continues to spread rumours that his son is off to Mercedes, Horner has paid the price.
He is succeeded by Laurent Mekies, the Frenchman who has been promoted from sister team Racing Bulls. There is a certain irony in that, given Horner brought the former Toro Rosso engineer back into the Red Bull family in 2023.
Horner was put in charge of steering the struggling sister outfit back on course and hired Mekies as team principal from Ferrari, alongside new CEO Peter Bayer. Now, two years later, the 48-year-old finds himself in one of the top jobs in world motorsport. But it will not be an easy one for Mekies who will need to find his sea legs swiftly.
And his first job will be to stop Verstappen defecting to sworn enemies Mercedes. The four-time F1 champion won't be making it five in a row this year with McLaren dominating and he won't want to spend much more time out of contention.
Red Bull are making their own engines for the first time next year while Mercedes are veterans on that front and are hotly tipped to start the new F1 era next year strongly. Mekies needs to figure out quickly whether Verstappen truly intends to jump overboard, or whether all the speculation was just his dad making waves.
Even if the Dutchman stays for 2026, he'll soon be looking elsewhere if that new engine isn't performing. Verstappen would love to complete his whole career with Red Bull, but not enough to stay on board a sinking ship. And Yuki Tsunoda's struggles show that, if they were to lose their star man, things could get really ugly at Red Bull.
It's too late for the team to change course on their engine plans, and it may already be too late to ensure Verstappen will stay for the whole voyage. One thing that is for sure is that it won't be smooth sailing for Red Bull's new skipper.
While predecessor Horner loved the spotlight, it is something Mekies, 48, will have to get used to. The Frenchman is a much different character, quiet and unassuming, an engineer at heart, and admitted last year being an F1 team principal was never his "dream".
He has not the same level of ambition as Horner, which ended up being the Brit's downfall in part as his huge influence and Red Bull Racing's autonomy under his leadership annoyed the company leadership in Austria, including co-owner Mark Mateschitz and the head of Red Bull's sporting projects, former RB Leipzig CEO Oliver Mintzlaff.
What will work in Loughborough University graduate Mekies' favour, as could the fact he already has a long-standing relationship with Jos Verstappen having worked with the Dutchman when he was a driver for minnows Arrows in 2001.
One thing for sure is that he has never experienced the level of interest he will receive when he turns up trackside for his first race as Red Bull leader at the Belgian Grand Prix later this month.
Formula 1 fans can watch every practice, qualifying and race live with Sky's new Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle in a new deal that saves £192.
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