New Red Bull chief downplays role in first F1 victory since Christian Horner exit

New Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has claimed he had “zero contribution” to the team’s first F1 victory since Christian Horner’s departure at the Italian Grand Prix.

Red Bull returned to winning ways at Monza as Max Verstappen won the grand prix by over 19 seconds.

Verstappen claimed his first win since Imola back in May on merit.

Unlike in Japan and Imola, where it can be argued McLaren were quicker, the RB21 was far superior at the ‘Temple of Speed’.

Verstappen pipped Lando Norris to pole position, beating Lewis Hamilton’s track record from 2020 in the all-conquering W11.

While Verstappen was forced to give up the lead after cutting the first corner on Lap 1, it didn’t take long for the Dutchman to re-overtake Norris.

Verstappen controlled the race from the front, building up a six-second lead.

Unlike the two McLarens, who stayed out before switching to the softs, Verstappen opted for a more conventional strategy.

This allowed him to build up a substantial lead once the pit stops played out, winning the race by nearly 19 seconds.

This was Red Bull’s first grand prix win since Horner’s exit in July.

It also marked a remarkable turnaround for Red Bull.

Verstappen finished sixth in last year’s Italian Grand Prix, arguably their worst weekend in terms of pace during the 2024 campaign.

Despite Red Bull’s resurgence, Mekies is refusing to take credit.

“The answer is a very easy one, the level of my contribution is zero,” Mekies told reporters at Monza.

“And I'm not joking either. It's 1,500 people working on making the car faster, so these are the talents that make the car faster, that make the hundredths and the thousandths [of lap time], and that make the set of options with the new components available. So the short answer is that my contribution is zero.

“Our only role is to make sure that the talents that we have are put in the right conditions to express that talent at best. That's the only thing we are doing, so that's the extent of the contribution. That's it, nothing more.”

The key to Verstappen’s win

In 2024, Red Bull didn’t have a Monza-specific rear wing available to them.

This was rectified for this year’s race, and Max Verstappen capitalised.

Verstappen reportedly ignored the advice of Red Bull technical chief Pierre Wache, opting for an incredibly low-downforce setup.

“You do a lot of things only for Monza,” Mekies explained. “You do wings only for Monza, you do set-up only for Monza, so last year was a very difficult point and the guys did an amazing job analysing last year and coming here with very specific solutions.

“It seems like they overshot the target – meaning the car was actually in a much better window compared to the other tracks.”