\u201cSo, our focus is to try to get to know the team as quickly as possible in order to see how we can support, how we can build, the next step of competitiveness in order to get a fast car — and hence make it an easy call for Max.\u201d <\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1752977588_817_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Mercedes CEO Toto Wolff, who has reportedly spearheaded the move to poach Verstappen, also spoke on his driver\u2019s futures amid uncertainty around the look of their team.<\/p>\n
He did admit, however, that it would be likely George Russell and Kimi Antonelli remain as the pair wait in limbo for Verstappen\u2019s decision. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is all a longshot, far-fetched. I want to stay with Kimi and George as it stands,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything else is not realistic. If you have a Russell-Verstappen line-up, that\u2019s Prost-Senna.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is the largest of probabilities, (though) nothing is 100 per cent, that this will be the line-up next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters at a scheduled team chiefs\u2019 news conference at the Belgian Grand Prix, Mekies revealed he had little prior knowledge of events before he was contacted and offered the Red Bull job.<\/p>\n
Laurent Mekies, Team Principal of Oracle Red Bull Racing in the Team Principals Press Conference.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t very different for me than it was for you,\u201d he said. \u201cI got a call a few hours before you guys were made aware. It came from Oliver (Mintzlaff) and Helmut (Marko) and they asked me if I would be interested to do the job.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt came out of the blue — I was actually in the UK, at Racing Bulls, and it came in a completely unexpected way.\u201d – \u2018An honour\u2019 – Mekies shared he needed some time to process the offer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually asked them if I could think about it for a few hours and I hung up the phone. It is so difficult to digest!<\/p>\n
\u201cBut then the first thing comes into your mind and you say \u2018well, wait a second — it\u2019s Red Bull!\u2019 \u201cThey are calling you! They ask you to step in to do that job. And with everything that Red Bull means — its energy, its spirit, how they go about their racing teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, that\u2019s how you pick up the phone and you say, of course, it\u2019s an honour… it\u2019s a privilege.\u201d He added he had spent much of his first two weeks in the job trying to \u201cunderstand the strengths and weaknesses\u201d and finding \u201cextraordinary balance and incredible racing spirit\u201d.<\/p>\n
Piastri pole after setting new record | 01:26<\/p>\n
\u201cThese guys go on the edge on every single aspect,\u201d Mekies said. \u201cThere is not a single department where you see any feeling of laying back or resting. They really are at war in the good sense of the word, if I may say, in every single aspect.\u201d Mekies\u2019 arrival from his similar position at Racing Bulls comes after a stormy period of unrest at Red Bull sparked by Horner facing accusations of improper behaviour by a female employee, claims that were dismissed following two internal investigations.<\/p>\n
Horner denied the claims, but the turmoil was followed by the departures of several key staff including chief designer Adrian Newey and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley for Aston Martin and Sauber-Audi respectively.<\/p>\n
The team\u2019s form declined amid rumours that Verstappen was set to join Mercedes next year, taking advantage of a performance clause in his contract.<\/p>\n
But Mekies said he had found only a positive spirit after taking charge. \u201cEverybody has been incredibly supportive,\u201d he said. \u201cWilling to open the door, willing to speak and to listen.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies on Friday said his first priority was to improve the car\u2019s performance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[2074,64,63,22487,2071,22489,2057,22494,817,22497,813,816,22496,3738,3875,2105,22490,22498,22488,21772,2082,825,20590,2083,22484,18501,22492,22486,22491,22495,22485,85,22493,4703,2062],"class_list":["post-22276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-adrian-newey","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-belgian-sprint","tag-belgium","tag-chief-designer","tag-europe","tag-extraordinary-balance","tag-f1","tag-fast-car","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-four-time-champion","tag-fox-sports","tag-george-russell","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-incredible-racing-spirit","tag-key-staff","tag-lap-record","tag-lap-time","tag-mark-thompson","tag-max-verstappen","tag-news-conference","tag-oracle-corporation","tag-pair-wait","tag-performance-clause","tag-positive-spirit","tag-principals-press-conference","tag-reject-overtures","tag-single-aspect","tag-spa-record","tag-sports","tag-team-principals-press","tag-toto-wolff","tag-western-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22276","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=22276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}