Laurent Mekies has big shoes to fill at Red Bull Racing
“I just left having a chat with Laurent, I’m happy he’s in the role he’s in,” he said. “I like Laurent, and I think that’ll be healthy, and maybe we can get back to focusing on competition on the track. There’s always going to be some political aspects to the sport, I think it’s going to be healthier with Laurent,” he added. I’m a fan of Laurent, I’ve known him for a long time, and I think it’ll be good to go racing against Laurent.” – McLaren boss, Zak Brown
Brown and Horner were not friends, to put it mildly, and clashed frequently — with the former accusing Red Bull of cheating in 2022 when the team were found to be in breach of the 2021 cost cap. The pair raced in British Formula Three and renewed their rivalry as bosses, trading barbs in the media with Horner a “pantomime villain” for audiences of the Netflix series ‘Drive to Survive’.
McLaren dethroned Red Bull as constructors’ champions last year — although Max Verstappen won the drivers’ crown for Horner’s team for the fourth time in a row — and have been dominant this season. Brown said the Milton Keynes-based team, who dismissed Horner on July 9, had not seemed to be a healthy environment.
Christian Horner’s exit puts a damper on this season for Red Bull
Horner, who last year faced allegations of misconduct made by a female employee, which he denied and was cleared of after an investigation, has not commented publicly on the reasons for his departure. Brown looked forward to racing Red Bull in the same way McLaren enjoyed competing against Ferrari and Mercedes — hard on track but celebrating in a more collegiate spirit for the good of the sport.
“From a fan’s point of view, the drama of the villain stuff I think works, but I also think the celebratory ‘fight it out on track but then kind of photobomb each other’ …I think that’s a more fun way to go racing,” he said. Brown said the rivalry with Red Bull had gone too far, with Horner’s accusations about ‘flexi-wing’ breaches and other technical matters.
“When you start getting into frivolous allegations, I think that’s just going too far, and I think if I look up and down pit lane now, I see us fighting each other hard politically, but there being a line that’s not crossed. I think that line got crossed before… so I think that we’ll see a little bit of a change for the better.”
Can Max Verstappen deliver glory to new boss Laurent Mekies this season
As the season enters the summer break, the focus for McLaren is on continuing their form that has kept them at the top of the table this year. Verstappen delivered Red Bull’s first victory under their new boss recently, so the possibilities are evident for Red Bull to live a life without Christian Horner. However, there is a lot of work to do if Red Bull is to challenge Oscar Piastri or even Lando Norris at the top of the drivers’ standings. For Red Bull’s sake, we hope Verstappen has not given up on this year, like Lewis Hamilton has.
Coaches Database/Reuters
