Christian Horner was ‘first one to text’ Laurent Mekies after Red Bull promotion

Laurent Mekies has revealed Christian Horner was the first person to reach out and congratulate him on his promotion to Red Bull team principal.

After Red Bull dismissed Horner after 20 years in charge of the Milton Keynes squad in the days following the British Grand Prix, the team turned to Mekies to take the helm.

Mekies was promoted from sister team Racing Bulls to replace Horner, who was among the first to text and call the Frenchman despite losing one of the highest-profile jobs in F1. 

“Yes, we have spoken,” Mekies said on Friday at the Belgian Grand Prix, where Crash.net are on the ground. “He has been nothing else than supportive, even in the extremely difficult context for him.

“He was the first one to text, he was the first one to call, I think again this morning or yesterday, we text each other again. So he has been nothing other than supportive, which is very impressive in the context.

“Nobody is going to replace his character, nobody is going to replace him like for like. I come in to do the CEO and team principal job. Is there any way anyone can do it in the same way as Christian? No. At least certainly not me.

“We will be relying on the incredible strengths of everybody in this team. Everybody is stepping up. It’s certainly an opportunity to look for even more empowerment of our people.

“We will certainly look at this phase as a way to get our incredible people to step up and to create together the next competitive advantage for the next regulation phase.”

Horner exit a ‘big adjustment’ for Red Bull

Mekies admitted there was a “big adjustment” period for Red Bull during the immediate aftermath of Horner’s departure.

“You know, for sure, the first 24 hours was a big adjustment, because nobody was expecting it,” Mekies explained.

“No question, the first few hours after the announcement was a surprise for everyone, and certainly a digestion phase for everyone.”

Red Bull have been struggling to deliver performance and fallen down F1’s pecking order over the past year, but Mekies believes the team has the strength in depth to turn things around quickly.

“I've only been finding a huge amount of support from everyone, they just want to go racing,” he added.

"They are hugely respectful, and we all are, in the achievements that have been made under Christian's leadership. Can I be hoping for more support, openness from the people I've been meeting these last two weeks? No.

“Everybody has been incredibly supportive, willing to open the door, willing to speak, to listen, what were the limitations? What were the strengths? How do we go next about going back to the racetrack, and fighting at an even higher level tomorrow? That’s what I found.”