Laurent Mekies has opened up on how he was informed he’d be the new Red Bull Racing CEO and team principal.
Red Bull announced on 9 July that Mekies had replaced Christian Horner with immediate effect. While speaking to F1.com ahead of his first race weekend as Red Bull team chief, Mekies explained how the phone call from Red Bull GmbH managing director Oliver Mintzlaff and motorsport adviser Helmut Marko panned out.
The former Racing Bulls team principal found out about Horner’s exit just a couple of hours before the announcement was made. Shocked by the news, he asked if he could have some time to think about his decision before he “quickly realised” it would be a “privilege and an honour”.
“Obviously, it came out of the blue, as [it did] for you guys, so mine was probably quite similar to you. I received a call a few hours before everyone was made aware. And it was from Oliver and Helmut, and it took me by surprise.
“Initially, I asked them if you have to think about it and then you quickly realise… then try to digest and then you say, well, wait a second, it’s Red Bull calling you to step in that role. How can it be anything else than an honour and a privilege? So, you get that Red Bull energy feeling there, and that’s how it happened. Obviously, I called them back, and the rest is history.”
The Frenchman went on to discuss his first priorities in the team.
“I think the biggest element was then how do you get into it. The first thing that pops into your mind is, you need to meet the people and that was really what was in my mind.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images via Getty Images
“How do you now use the time? To meet these incredible people, to meet the teams, to start to get to know each other, to start to interact, to understand the strengths, to understand the dynamics, to understand all of that.
“And it’s been only two weeks, and you are nowhere near where you want to be, but it’s a completely different feeling once you start that process and you get to know more people every day, so it makes it quite an incredible journey.”
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