Ralf Schumacher aims latest veiled dig at ‘king’ Christian Horner
New Red Bull Racing team principal Laurent Mekies has made his debut with the team.
As Andrea Stella turned McLaren into championship leaders, Ralf Schumacher believes Laurent Mekies will have a similar telling impact on Red Bull by bringing the team together.
After all, he’s not trying to be “king”.
Ralf Schumacher highlights key Laurent Mekies trait
Joining Red Bull’s sister team Racing Bulls at the start of the F1 2024 season as team principal, little did anyone know that 18 months later, Mekies would be in charge of Red Bull Racing.
The Frenchman was handed the reins in the wake of the British Grand Prix when Red Bull chiefs made the shock call to sack long-serving team principal Christian Horner.
‘Red Bull has released Christian Horner from his operational duties with effect from today (9 July 2025) and has appointed Laurent Mekies as CEO of Red Bull Racing,’ read the brief statement.
Although Mekies is still new to the team boss position, former F1 driver Schumacher believes he can do the job for Red Bull as he’ll come at it with a different approach to his predecessor and unite the team.
He reminds the German of McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, whose ambition and people skills have played in a role in McLaren’s resurgence.
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“First of all, the ambition, you can see that with Stella and Mekies, [they] have that too, and the experience,” he told Sky Deutschland’s Backstage Boxengasse podcast.
“Where does that come from? In this case, he also went through the entire paddock, even in the smaller teams.
“He was with Minardi for a long time, then in AlphaTauri, and then Ferrari.
“And you have to give him credit, he had his heart in the right place. That’s another issue, what is the use of being king, but you don’t have any subjects who want to work with you, to put it exaggeratedly.
“He has that, and he’s just good at it; he can do that. He can catch people, he can bring people together.
“He can build a team, and that is so crucial in Formula 1. It really is just teamwork at the end of the day, and I think Red Bull made a great decision.”
Mekies’ first day in charge hinted at that as the 48-year-old spoke of getting to know the people involved to discover the “magic” behind Red Bull Racing.
“I just can’t wait to meet as many people as possible from this incredible team,” he said.
“You want to discover the magic, you want to meet the guys and girls that are doing the magic behind the scenes.
“That’s what the next few weeks will be dedicated to: To try to meet as many of our people as possible, to listen to them, to try to understand this beautiful, magic machine that is Red Bull Formula 1 and, eventually, find ways to contribute and to support.”
Mekies is reportedly already making changes at Red Bull with Italian publication Funoanalisitecnica.com claiming he’s adjusted the team’s simulation programme in order to be better prepared on Fridays.
Rather than spending Friday chasing the set-up, the Frenchman wants Red Bull to arrive at the track with a ‘good basic set-up’ already in mind.
Red Bull are currently fourth in the Constructors’ Championship with Max Verstappen having scored 165 of the team’s 172 points to sit P3 in the Drivers’ log.
Read next: Max Verstappen to Mercedes? Who will drive for Red Bull in F1 2026?
