Red Bull F1 boss reveals 'extremely difficult' talks with Christian Horner

Christian Horner’s replacement at Red Bull, Laurent Mekies, has revealed the ‘extremely difficult’ conversation he had with the axed F1 boss.

Following a 20-year career at Red Bull, Horner was sacked from the team and replaced by Racing Bulls team principal Mekies from the Belgian Grand Prix onwards.

Speaking to the media including GPFans at Spa on Friday, Mekies revealed his initial conversation with Horner since obtaining the role of Red Bull team principal, during which he described how difficult the situation was for the Brit.

“At first, yes, we have spoken. He has been nothing else than supportive even in the extremely difficult context for him,” Mekies explained.

“He was the first one to text, he was the first one to call. I think, again this morning or yesterday we texted again. He has been nothing else than supportive, which is very impressive in the context.”

“Nobody is going to replace his character. Nobody is going to replace him like for like. I come in to do the CEO and team principal job. Is there any way one can do it in the same way as Christian? No. Or at least, certainly not me. But we’ll be relying on the incredible strengths that there are in this team.

“Everybody is stepping up. It’s certainly an opportunity to look for even more empowerment of our people. Every time we have discussions with Jonathan, we talk about how much strength in depth you have in this team, and that’s what you find.

"We will certainly look at this phase as a way to get our incredible people to step up and create together the next competitive advantage for the next regulation phase.”

Who is Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies?

Mekies started his F1 career at Arrows in 2001, before moving to Minardi in 2003 as a race engineer.

Minardi was eventually taken over by the Red Bull brand and renamed Toro Rosso in 2005, where Mekies was promoted to the role of chief engineer; but he left the team in 2014 to join the FIA as a safety director.

Mekies re-joined the operations of a F1 team with Ferrari in 2018 as their sporting director, and worked his way to the role of deputy team principal and racing director in 2021.

However, in 2024 Mekies returned to the Red Bull fold to undertake the role of team principal, before being announced as Horner’s replacement in July this year.

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