Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies makes Max Verstappen admission amid Mercedes switch threat
Laurent Mekies has admitted his highest priority as new Red Bull boss is making sure Max Verstappen stays. The Frenchman is only the second team principal in Red Bull's entire Formula 1 history after replacing the ousted Christian Horner, who spent 20 years in charge.
And he inherits the role at a time when star driver Verstappen is considering quitting for rivals Mercedes. The Dutchman's streak of title successes is all-but certain to end this year and he wants to be in the quickest car he can find in 2026.
Mekies knows his single most important job in the short term is to make sure the four-time F1 champion doesn't think the grass will be greener elsewhere. "I'm sure Max wants a fast car and if we get him a fast car, I'm sure it's cancelling out all the other considerations," he said in his first press conference as Red Bull boss at Spa-Francorchamps on Friday.
"So really the focus is very much to try to get to know the team as quickly as possible in order to see how we can support, how we can build the next step of competitiveness in order to get a fast car and hence to make it an easy call for Max."
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Verstappen's decision has also left George Russell sweating over his Mercedes future. The Brit is leading the charge for the Silver Arrows on track and has enjoyed an excellent season so far, but is out of contract at the end of this year.
So is rookie team-mate Kimi Antonelli, but Mercedes have high hopes for the teenager and so Russell is the one most likely to be axed if they manage to lure Verstappen. The 27-year-old said on Thursday that it is "unlikely" he will get a contract extension before the summer break.
Team boss Toto Wolff, however, said in Belgium yesterday that the "largest of probabilities" is that Mercedes' driver pairing will remain unchanged for 2026. "Nothing is 100 percent, [but] this is going to be the line-up for next year," he said.
Russell's situation is made all the more strange by the face Mercedes also serve as his management team. That should have made negotiations a breeze, but Wolff hinted that Russell has been demanding more than he has been willing to sign off on up to now.
The Austrian said: "[The media] make a lot of pressure, because it's an interesting topic. But it's completely normal that we have these negotiations and discussions. Every driver wants a better car and more money, that's completely normal behaviour and that's not going to be the crucial point.
"He's now triggered the whole media avalanche. It's maybe naïve, but I try to be transparent with the drivers and I said to him, 'Listen, I have the obligation of exploring what Max is going to do in the next few years'. I think he just came out with it to show, 'I'm aware of what's going on, there's nothing going on behind my back and I'm fine with it'."
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Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Different horsepower for Horner as Red Bull enter new era
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium, July 27 (Reuters) - Former Red Bull team boss Christian Horner posted a video on social media of himself riding on horseback in the English countryside on the day of the Belgian Grand Prix. "Different horse power this Sunday," read the simple caption. Spa-Francorchamps marked the start of a new era for the former Formula One champions, the first race without Horner -- dismissed two weeks ago -- at the helm since Red Bull entered the sport in 2005. New boss Laurent Mekies started with a win, with Max Verstappen taking the Saturday sprint, and then a frustrating fourth place for the Dutch four-times world champion in the main Sunday grand prix. Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda failed to score for the sixth race in a row. Apart from expressing surprise at the long delay in getting the race started, due to heavy rain, Mekies avoided any polemic. He blamed the team for Tsunoda's blank, saying the Japanese had done a great job in qualifying but was called in too late for his pitstop in a mistake that cost him three or four positions. "After two weeks at the factory, trying to meet as many people as possible, it was nice to also meet the race team," said the Frenchman when asked to assess the weekend. "To also enter into the race dynamics and see how the flows and the processes and preparation are. That was super-good in terms of getting to know the team. As you would imagine, it's a team where everything is done at the mega level." Horner's absence was the talk of the paddock but by the time the circus regroups in Budapest next week, the conversation is likely to have moved on. "I think Laurent is very good. The sport moves on quickly, so it probably won't be something that we're talking about come Monday," McLaren boss Zak Brown told Sky Sports television. "He (Horner) had fantastic results. It's a shame to kind of go out the way he did." Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said earlier in the weekend that he would miss his old sparring partner and Netflix 'Drive to Survive' protagonist -- in a way -- and expected him to return sooner or later. "I don't think he's gone forever. I think he's going to pop up in some kind of other function," said the Austrian.
Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Max Verstappen blasts FIA for 'ruining' Belgian GP with one key decision
The Belgian Grand Prix took a lot longer than usual as heavy rain forced a long delay at the start of the race, leaving Max Verstappen in particular unhappy with that decision Max Verstappen slammed the Formula 1 race director for his "very cautious" approach to managing conditions at the Belgian Grand Prix. The race was delayed for almost 90 minutes when heavy rain hit the Circuit Spa-Francorchamps and the FIA decided to red flag proceedings after the formation lap. That first lap took place at 3pm local time as scheduled, when the rain was still pouring. And it soon became clear that visibility was very poor as even Lando Norris, behind only the safety car on pole position, could barely see beyond the spray being thrown up into the air. And so race director Rui Marques too the decision to abort the start and call for all cars to return to the pit lane. Once he had done that, it was clear that the race would not resume for some time as more heavy rain was on the way. Eventually things got going, around 90 minutes after the originally scheduled start time. And it was perfect timing for Oscar Piastri who snatched the lead from Norris on the first lap after a rolling start and consolidated that position to win the race. Verstappen finished fourth, the same place he started, and was left to wonder what might have been had they been allowed to race in the more treacherous conditions, as he made it clear he would have preferred a bolder approach from race control. The Dutchman fumed: "We should have started miles earlier, an hour earlier. A bit of a shame. They took a very cautious approach which we spoke about after Silverstone, to be a little bit more cautious. "But, for me, this was then the other extreme. It just ruined a nice, classic wet race as well. We either still try to push for a proper wet race, or we say, 'You know what, let's just stop racing in the wet and wait for it to be dry. But that's not what you want, right? "We can still have some really cool wet racing, like we showed at Silverstone." But the race, in the end, was mostly in dry conditions and Verstappen could not find the pace he needed to reel in Charles Leclerc, who spent the whole race successfully defending the final podium place. Verstappen had won the Sprint race a day earlier, able to hold off the McLarens by driving flat out over 15 laps. But tyre degradation proved to be tricky again over a full race distance and that is what he wants his team to address going forward. He said: "The problems we have in the car in tyre management are still there, it doesn't matter what rear wing you put on the car and it also hurt us today in the race. We did the best we could, we made some changes and it was much nicer around the lap. We know what we have to work on but, unfortunately, it was not that straightforward to fix."
South Wales Guardian
2 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
Hamilton agrees with Verstappen that Belgian GP should not have been delayed
Verstappen branded race director Rui Marques' move to bring out the red flag after a single formation lap in the rain at Spa-Francorchamps as 'silly' and 'way too cautious'. Following a delay of one hour and 20 minutes – which the FIA said was due to 'poor visibility' – the race eventually got under way, albeit in a rolling start after four laps behind the safety car. Hamilton was able to switch from intermediates to dry tyres after just seven racing laps. And when it was put to Hamilton, who made up 11 places to finish seventh, that Verstappen claimed the race should have started immediately, he replied: 'I would agree. My car was set up for that, and they waited for it to dry. Especially at the end. It was a dry line with hardly any spray.' There have been 49 driver/rider fatalities at Spa-Francorchamps in the last 100 years – most recently Dutch 18-year-old Dilano Van 't Hoff in 2023, and Frenchman Anthonie Hubert in a Formula Two race four years previously. The last Formula One race at Silverstone also took place in wet conditions, and Hamilton, 40, continued: 'It was just a reaction to Silverstone. 'We sat down and spoke about it after Silverstone. Lots of drivers in the last race said we shouldn't have restarted, because of a lack of visibility. And as soon as someone up ahead said, 'visibility is pretty bad' which, it wasn't great but it wasn't as bad as the last race, they just decided to wait. 'They still did a good job. Of course we did miss some of the extreme wet weather racing, which would have been nice. But for some reason the spray here is like a fog.' 🔴 RED FLAG 🔴 It's very wet out there and visibility is poor. The drivers will head back to the pit lane to wait for conditions to improve #F1 #BelgianGP — Formula 1 (@F1) July 27, 2025 In 2021, the rain-hit race was abandoned after just two laps behind the safety car. Defending the decision to delay the start of Sunday's event, Hamilton's Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc said: 'On a track like this you cannot forget about the history and what has happened in the past so I would rather be safe than go early.' Oscar Piastri, who won in Belgium to extend his championship lead over Lando Norris to 16 points, continued: 'We have given the FIA feedback that we would much rather be on the safe side. 'If you were being picky you might say we could have done one fewer lap behind the safety car but is the risk worth it? 'The first time we tried to start the race, with only Lando ahead, I couldn't see a thing, so you can imagine what it is like for the guys at the back.'
