Mekies reacts to initial exchange with Zak Brown following Horner comments

11:30, 04 Aug

Updated: 13:33, 04 Aug

Co-author:Samson Ero

bySandy van Wijngaarden

Zak Brown expressed his optimism about collaborating with Red Bull Racing, this time without what he described as the ‘political games’ and 'manipulations' previously associated with Christian Horner. In response to his take, the new Red Bull team boss, Laurent Mekies, has aired his thoughts on the conversation with the McLaren CEO.

Brown had highlighted a recent discussion with Mekies as a positive step. He detailed how he was pleased with their exchange and looked forward to building a more transparent and cooperative relationship with the Red Bull team under its new leadership.

Mekies responds to conversation with Brown in Hungary

During the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, Laurent Mekies responded to talks of his conversation with Zak Brown. The 48-year-old emphasised the importance of collaboration between teams despite on-track rivalry. The Red Bull Racing team boss also noted that both parties share a mutual interest worth pursuing.

“Competition on the track is one thing. Discussing together to establish a stance on the future of the sport, about major strategic decisions we as a sport should take for the future, is common amongst competitors."

Laurent Mekies in Hungary - Red Bull Contentpool

According to Mekies, Red Bull has a good relationship with other team bosses. "And no matter how much we disagree here and there or just defend our short-term or medium-term interests, the truth is that we have a very good relationship with Zak, with Andrea, but also with Toto and also with Fred and Mattia and all the other guys. So it's a very good group."

“We have done enough F1 committees together to be aware that we want to make a real contribution to the sport", the Frenchman continued. "And I think the sport at the level where it stands now deserves a group where we temper the short-term and medium-term interests and discuss with the FIA and the F1 how we can move forward."

“That's what we're trying to do. We don't hide our biases, but we try to be constructive about how we should approach this", said Mekies.