(Motorsport-Total.com) – On July 9, 2025, the news of the surprising dismissal of Christian Horner as team principal of Red Bull Racing sent shockwaves through the paddock.
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This ended a 20-year era that had produced two dominant, title-winning dynasties. Horner was removed after a lengthy political power struggle within Red Bull, in which a whole series of dominoes contributed to this sensational outcome.
He was succeeded by Laurent Mekies, a highly respected figure who had previously led the sister team Racing Bulls. Red Bull Austria thus opted for a tighter leadership rather than giving a single figure absolute control over Milton Keynes.
When Mekies took up his new position, his first step was to get an overview rather than push through drastic changes. A complete fresh start would have implied that Red Bull had to start from scratch – which was obviously not the case.
The vast majority of the people who had made Red Bull so successful in 2022 were still there. Anything else would also diminish Horner’s own monumental contribution.
Mekies also needed time to understand how a team with over 1,000 employees ticks and where he could make fine improvements to get the best out of them. “I still see these guys the way most people outside the team do,” Mekies said in his first public statement since taking office.
The rise and fall of Christian Horner at Red Bull
“We look at you and see the best people in the world at what they do. The focus will really be on making sure all the talented minds here have what they need to perform at their best – because they are already the best.”
However, this did not mean that Mekies changed nothing, especially on the racetrack. Although he refused to take credit for it, Mekies brought a much more engineering-oriented approach and asked his engineers the right questions.
“I like how Laurent works. He is very motivated and constantly asks me, but also the team, the right questions. I think that’s nice to see,” Verstappen said after a few weeks of working with the Frenchman.
Mekies was at least partly credited with Red Bull finding some solutions to the handling problems of the 2025 car, which allowed Verstappen to put McLaren under pressure until the bitter end. It was a promising start to the post-Horner era.
But at this point, the biggest challenges for Red Bull were still ahead: the double blow of the radical regulation reform for 2026 and the first-time construction of their own power unit in-house – a project that was originally Horner’s idea.
The political game on the way to becoming a manufacturer
Credit must be given to Horner that Red Bull Ford Powertrains under former Mercedes man Ben Hodgkinson exceeded expectations with a strong V6 engine, even though there is still much work to be done on the electric side and the starting procedure of the RB22.
But now it also seems as if Red Bull could become a victim of this early success. The team faces a ban on engine upgrades because their power unit was rated as the strongest in the entire field. Red Bull has denied this and asked the FIA for a thorough review, but according to Motorsport-Total.com, this investigation only confirmed the initial findings of the governing body – a frustrating experience for the team.
The factors that led to Horner’s exit at Red Bull
Does Red Bull have the right to feel unfairly treated, or were they simply outmaneuvered by teams like Ferrari and Mercedes? Time will tell.
But Horner was and is a master of politics and communication. In view of the controversies surrounding the 2026 regulations and the ADUO upgrade system, one inevitably wonders whether the former boss would have approached the matter differently.
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The cure for the “second cockpit syndrome”
If 2026 has brought anything good for Red Bull, it is that the chronic problem with the second cockpit seems to be cured. After a series of drivers who struggled to assert themselves alongside Verstappen, former Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar has broken this spell.
With an impressive start at Red Bull, he confirmed the strong performance he had already shown in 2025 in his rookie season with the sister team. Hadjar took third place on the grid at his debut in Melbourne and reached the podium in Monaco, although this place had to be returned later to Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.
That Hadjar delivers like this is probably more a byproduct of the completely new regulations than a targeted measure by the team – and of course a credit to the young Frenchman’s mental strength in the spotlight of the top team.
And daily the groundhog returns: Verstappen rumors and personnel turnover
The good news is that Hadjar does not struggle significantly more with confidence and car balance than Verstappen. The bad news is: both drivers are currently going through a difficult phase. And this has reignited the inevitable speculation about the team’s flagship.
It wouldn’t be a Formula 1 season without rumors linking Verstappen to the competition, or even about an early retirement because the Dutchman is so disillusioned with the current regulations. Only the four-time world champion himself knows what the future holds – regardless of what important people on the internet claim to know.
But the task Mekies faces is exactly the same as it was for Horner: He must ensure that all the framework conditions are right so that Verstappen fulfills his contract and all these rumors fizzle out.
Two consecutive failures of the rear wing are not exactly confidence-building, and the team is now going through the next stress test to find workable solutions for its weaknesses – whether operationally or in terms of pure performance.
This is happening against the backdrop that more key personnel have either already left Red Bull or are about to leave.
Since Horner’s dismissal a year ago, the team has also sidelined longtime Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, while Verstappen’s longtime confidant and race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase has signed a contract to move to McLaren until 2028, and Paul Monaghan is likely about to move to Cadillac.
So is the “brain drain” at Red Bull bitter reality or are some departures simply getting too much attention because of their media presence? The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.
The principle has not changed for Mekies. The only thing that really matters is building the fastest car. And if that doesn’t succeed this year, then all levers and people must be put in position so that it works next year.
If Mekies can convince Verstappen and the Dutchman is not so fed up with Formula 1 that he starts something else with his life, then everything will fall into place on its own.
If it even needs to be said: The Verstappens care about exactly the same thing as every other driver. It’s all about winning. That was the case under Horner, and it is no different twelve months later.
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