Laurent Mekies explains why he hung up the phone after Red Bull job offer

Laurent Mekies has admitted he initially hung up the phone after Red Bull offered him the chance to takeover as team principal.

Red Bull announced the sudden sacking of Christian Horner and confirmed that Mekies would be replacing him as CEO and team principal with immediate effect in the days after the British Grand Prix in a move which sent shockwaves through the F1 paddock.

Speaking on Friday at the Belgian Grand Prix, where Crash.net are on the ground, Mekies opened up about how he found out the decision, as well as revealing that he needed time to process and consider Red Bull’s offer.

“I got a call a few hours before you guys were made aware,” Mekies explained. “I got a call from Oliver [Mintzlaff, Red Bull managing director] and Helmut [Marko, Red Bull advisor], and they asked me if I would be interested to do the job.

“And obviously, it came out of the blue at that moment for me. I was actually in the UK at Racing Bulls and came in a completely unexpected way. I actually asked them to think about it for a few hours and hung up the phone. Obviously, you know, it’s difficult to digest.

“But the first thing that then comes into your mind, say, well, wait a second, you know, it’s Red Bull. They are calling you. They ask you to step in to do that job with everything that Red Bull means, its energy, its spirits, how they go about their racing teams. And that’s how you pick up the phone and say, course, it’s an honour, it’s a privilege, as we said.

“First thoughts obviously go to, in this moment as well, to Christian, because it’s not something that I could have expected, and it had been nothing else than extremely supportive with me in these last two years.

“It’s not a secret that he’s the one with Oliver and Helmut that brought me back to the Red Bull family a couple of years ago. So that’s the sort of mix of emotion that you get at that moment. But as I said, the dominant one is Red Bull calling.

“I guess it’s then a matter of loyalty towards the brand and you just say of course you know I am if you think you need me there, I will go there.”

No explanation given to Mekies for Horner's exit

Red Bull have remained silent on the exact reasons for Horner’s dismissal, having offered no official explanation regarding the timing of his exit.

And Mekies said it was not something he had discussed with Red Bull’s top brass.

“We didn’t get into the why or why now, but they outlined the sort of objectives they had for the team moving forward,” the Frenchman added.

The last 18 months of Horner’s tenure were overshadowed after he was accused of sexual harassment and coercive, controlling behaviour by a female employee.

Horner was cleared of wrongdoing by two internal investigations last year and always denied the claims.

The scandal was followed by a feud with Max Verstappen’s father, a power struggle within Red Bull and the loss of key personnel, including design genius Adrian Newey.