Verstappen's special abilities that blew Red Bull team boss Mekies away

10:52, 10 Dec

byTim Kraaij

Laurent Mekies was blown away by Max Verstappen’s qualities in his first weeks as team principal of Red Bull Racing, the Frenchman explained in an interview with a select group of media, including GPblog.

"When you get the chance to work on his side of the paddock, you still get blown away."

- Laurent Mekies

For Mekies, 2025 has turned out to be a remarkable year. The Frenchman began the year as team principal of Racing Bulls, Red Bull's junior team where the main goal is to prepare young drivers for the main team. Mid-season, however, Mekies was thrown in at the deep end at Red Bull Racing to take over from Christian Horner.

That meant Mekies had to take on a huge challenge. Red Bull Racing had been active in F1 for twenty years with, until now, a single team principal. After the British GP, however, Horner was sidelined and Mekies was the designated successor to lead Verstappen’s team.

And working with Max Verstappen proves special even for a well-experienced Formula 1 man. Mekies has been around for years. In 2000, the Frenchman took his first steps in the sport as an engineer at engine manufacturer Asiatech, before joining Minardi. That team eventually became Toro Rosso, where Mekies worked until 2014.

This was followed by stints at the FIA and Ferrari, after which he returned to Red Bull once again—first as team principal of Racing Bulls and now of Red Bull Racing. With more than 25 years of experience in F1, you’d think he had seen it all, yet Mekies was still blown away when he started working with Verstappen.

Mekies is amazed by Verstappen

"As much as we have spent all of us too many years in Formula 1 and seen Max doing unbelievable achievements, all I can tell you is that when you get the chance to work on his side of the paddock, you still get blown away by what you hear on the radio."

"Because obviously you guys hear a lot, but you don't hear everything, so the quality of the technical feedback, the level of sensitivity that he has with the car. We used to have this joke where we just say he's the best sensor we have in the car. Arguably the most expensive," Mekies laughed about the hefty sum Verstappen earns as a four-time world champion.

Laurent Mekies was amazed by Max Verstappen

Laurent Mekies is amazed by Max Verstappen - Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

"The guy lives day and night with motorsport. Day and night. Probably more than any of us. So he is motorsport in some respect. He's not escaping from the meeting to do something else. He's completely merging it.

"In between the races, he's doing his sim racing probably with somewhere in his mind something he can learn or improve on his driving or on the preparations for the next race.

"If he has a free weekend, [he will] go racing somewhere with some GT3. That's something that is unreal.

"He does that with the capacity to immerse himself in the projects, not to judge it from outside, but to find the right keys to make sure that we all push in the same direction, to make sure that we all appreciate what he's trying to tell us on how the car's efficient."

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