{"id":17985,"date":"2025-07-24T07:30:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T07:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/17985\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T07:30:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T07:30:15","slug":"f1-news-red-bull-drivers-ready-for-new-era-under-laurent-mekies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/17985\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 news: Red Bull drivers ready for \u2018new era\u2019 under Laurent Mekies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RedYuki Tsunoda previously worked under Laurent Mekies at Racing Bulls. Image: XPB Images<\/p>\n

Mekies officially takes over as team principal<\/a> this weekend following the sudden sacking of Christian Horner earlier this month<\/a>, ending his 20-year reign at the helm and marking the first time in team history that Horner won\u2019t be in charge during a race weekend.<\/p>\n

Verstappen, who was born in Belgium and considers Spa one of his two home races alongside the Dutch Grand Prix, welcomed the chance to begin working with Mekies as the team resets for the second half of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was back at the factory last week to spend some time in the sim with the team and I\u2019m looking forward to working closely with Laurent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSilverstone wasn\u2019t our best performance but it was a promising step to put it on pole in qualifying.\u201d<\/p>\n

The four-time world champion said he was excited to return to Spa, praising the circuit\u2019s old-school layout and unique challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpa is a classic and always my favourite track on the calendar; a very old school circuit where you have to do everything right to get a good lap,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\t\tWATCH: Supercars stars in Supercheap Auto \u2018Police Chase\u2019 Click here<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoy the high-speed corners such as Eau Rouge, the layout which is different to other circuits and elevation changes that make the track more of a challenge to drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is always huge support in Belgium from the Orange Army and it is like a second home race for me, so I will be back wearing the orange lion helmet and my special cap and boots.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Tsunoda, the weekend offers a sense of familiarity as he reunites with Mekies, whom he previously worked under at Racing Bulls before stepping up to the senior Red Bull team earlier this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are coming into this race in a new era for the team and it will be good to link up again with Laurent, we worked really well together at Racing Bulls,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know how he likes to work and our full focus is on pushing forward and for me personally to start delivering the performance we need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who is Laurent Mekies? Tracing the rise of Red Bull\u2019s new boss<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Japanese driver said he spent the two-week gap between Belgium and Britain focusing on extra preparation, hoping it will pay dividends in the second half of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have spent the time off racing mixed between training very hard and using the break to mentally reset,\u201d Tsunoda said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to be the best prepared I could be coming into Spa and in better condition, mentally and physically.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am feeling strong and sharp and looking forward to these next two races before summer break.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpa is a fun circuit and one that could suit us well, the sprint always makes things tricky but the work and preparation we have done in this off time should set us up nicely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Red Bull currently sit fourth in the constructors\u2019 standings on 172 points \u2014 the first time since 2015 they haven\u2019t been in the top three at the halfway point of the season.<\/p>\n

2025 F1 Belgian Grand Prix \u2013 Schedule, how to watch, TV times & more<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yuki Tsunoda previously worked under Laurent Mekies at Racing Bulls. Image: XPB Images Mekies officially takes over as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,14758,825,918,7499,85,5077],"class_list":["post-17985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-laurent-mekies","tag-max-verstappen","tag-red-bull","tag-slot4","tag-sports","tag-yuki-tsunoda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}