Jun 15, 2025; Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen (1) races during the F1 Montreal Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

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Who is Laurent Mekies? Meet the New Red Bull Racing CEO!

All you need to know about the newest CEO of Red Bull Racing

Jun 15, 2025; Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen (1) races during the F1 Montreal Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

Laurent Mekies is at the epicentre of one of the biggest changes in the history of Formula 1 racing. He is going to lead the team of Red Bull Racing as their CEO as of July 2025. Laurent Mekies was previously the team principal at the Red Bull junior team of Racing Bulls. Mekies is replacing one of the key figures at Red Bull Racing, Christian Horner with immediate effect.

Red Bull Racing rattled the world of Formula 1 with their recent announcement. Their team principal, Christian Horner had only recently confirmed his intentions to stay with Red Bull Racing. There are no solid reasons as to why Horner was sacked from the team without any warning.

20 years, 14 titles 🏆

An incredibly successful partnership comes to an end#F1 @redbullracing pic.twitter.com/av6BkXMjRQ
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 9, 2025

Red Bull Racing is in yet another turmoil with this new decision. They were already reeling hard from the loss of Adrian Newey last year.

Before the Formula 1 season kicks off once again at Spa Francorchamps later this month, a lot of questions are rising about the team. Here’s all you need to know about the next CEO of the Austrian outfit.

Who is Red Bull Racing’s New CEO, Laurent Mekies?

Laurent Mekies came to Red Bull Racing in 2024 as part of their junior team, Racing Bulls. He has been leading the team since the start of the 2024 season. Under his mentorship, Racing Bulls were getting better since 2024. At first, they found themselves Liam Lawson who was scoring consistent points with Yuki Tsunoda. In 2025, they are a competitive team in the midfield owing to Isack Hajdar’s stellar debut season.

However, Laurent Mekies is not a new name to Formula 1. He has been working in the sport for a long time. He has already worked with Red Bull once in the past. Laurent Mekies hails from Tours, Centre-Val de Loire, France having completed his Bachelor’s from Loughborough University. Laurent Mekies started off with Asiatech Formula 3 team in 2000.

He came to Formula 1 in 2001 working with Arrows. Mekies later switched to Minardi where he worked as a race engineer for drivers like- Mark Webber, Justin Wilson, Zsolt Baumgartner and Christijan Albers. In 2005, the team was acquired by Red Bull and renamed to Scuderia Toro Rosso. Mekies finally left the team in 2014 after serving as their chief engineer for 10 years.

🚨 Ferrari has confirmed Laurent Mekies will leave his role as Racing Director this week and isn't in Spa for the Belgian GP.

He's heading to AlphaTauri to take over from Franz Tost as Team Principal. pic.twitter.com/VzrU2ZKlPH
— WTF1 (@wtf1official) July 27, 2023

In 2014, he started a new stint in Formula 1 working for the FIA. He was the safety director in the FIA and later became their deputy race director. One year later, he was back to the track with one of the best and historical teams of the grid, Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1. He was the sporting director and later on, Deputy Team Principal and Racing Director of Ferrari until 2023.

In 2023, Laurent Mekies left the team and it was announced that he will head the Racing Bulls outfit from the 2024 season. Laurent Mekies has a lot on his plate currently. He has to address the numerous issues prevalent in the team after Horner’s exit. Red Bull Racing is facing one of their worst seasons in Formula 1.

Mekies will have to make sure the team regains its performance and challenges the front runners once again. Furthermore, he will have to take care of the second driver issues in team which make Red Bull Racing heavily reliant on Max Verstappen.

Christian Horner

Formula 1

Formula 1 2025 Season

Laurent Mekies

Racing Bulls

Red Bull Racing

Rohan Singh

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I work as a Writer at The Playoffs specialising in NHL, Formula 1 and Motorsports. I got into online journalism a couple of years ago. I used to be an intern for a website managing their Formula 1 content and then I served an entire year as a contractual writer.