The new Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies, who replaced Christian Horner, is to lead the team back to the head of Formula 1. But ex-Haas team boss Günther Steiner warns of Steiner warns: Mekies “no magician”. “I just hope that you don’t put too much pressure on Laurent Mekies,” says the South Tyrolean. “He’s not a magician either.”
The struck successful team, which is currently in fourth place in the constructor World Cup, to bring back to the road to success can even “take years,” says Steiner in a recent interview with Web.de. “Red Bull is currently on the way down than upwards. Mekies has a huge job ahead of him.”
Nevertheless, a restart for Red Bull: “The restlessness in the team was not new,” recalls the 60-year-old and with a view to the Horner affair in spring 2024. “That built up for a year and a half, there was always something new. And at some point you have decided: now calm has to be in.”
Mekies has to “win new top people”
“The sporting performance is no longer there as before, Max Verstappen is dissatisfied, and of course you want to keep it happy. That’s why you want to reorganize yourself at Red Bull.” It is obvious that this will not be an easy task for the new team boss Laurent Mekies.
“Good people have gone and have divided other teams,” says Steiner with a view of Adrian Newey, Rob Marshall and other personal details that Red Bull have turned back in recent months. “Now he has to try to win new top people, and that’s difficult.”
But this is not the only challenge that meat. “And also Red Bull builds the engine himself with Ford. This is a huge project,” says Steiner. “In the first year it will certainly not run smoothly.”
Steiner: Red Bull 2026 “Not at the top”
With a view to the future, the native Italian dares a forecast: “You will be there in the front field in 2026, but not at the forefront,” believes the former Haas team boss. “The deficit to the top will remain.” Nevertheless, he is not surprised that Max Verstappen will stay with Red Bull for the time being.
“No, because I believe that it is a very strategic decision from him,” emphasizes Steiner. “Max Weiß: At Red Bull, he has the option to get out at the end of 2026. That gives him maximum flexibility. If Red Bull remains surprisingly strong, it is in the right place.”
However, if another team is in front, Verstappen will change the cockpit for 2027. “If Mercedes is strong from 2026, he will get a contract of several years there,” believes Steiner. “A change now with a long -term contract would be risky.”