TIMELINE: Laurent Mekies’ journey from engineer to Red Bull boss

Amid the news of Christian Horner’s immediate exit from Red Bull, it was confirmed that Laurent Mekies will step up as CEO of the squad, having previously acted as Team Principal of sister outfit Racing Bulls. F1.com looks back at the Frenchman’s journey through the sport to this point…

The road to F1

Born on April 28, 1977 in Tours, France, Mekies was a motorsport fan from an early age and soon became keen to pursue a career in the sport. The Frenchman went on to graduate in mechanical engineering from the ESTACA School in Paris, which saw him spend his final year at Loughborough University in the UK.

From there Mekies became an engine engineer for the Asiatech team in Formula 3, before progressing to F1 with Arrows in 2001.

One year on, he joined Minardi as a race engineer and remained a part of the Faenza-based outfit for several years.

Mekies was promoted to Chief Engineer when the squad became Toro Rosso in 2006 and later became Head of Vehicle Performance, a role that saw him manage six departments all focused on car performance.

Moving on to the FIA and Ferrari

In 2014, Mekies departed Toro Rosso and joined the FIA as Safety Director, looking after safety and medical matters across the governing body’s championships. Three years later, he also took on the role of F1 Deputy Race Director alongside his other duties.

Mekies went on to switch to Ferrari in 2018, having been appointed as Sporting Director. His stint with the Scuderia saw him additionally take on the position of Head of Track and Performance Area in 2019, while in 2021 he became Racing Director.

During his time with the team, Ferrari scored seven race wins – but a new challenge was on the horizon for Mekies…

Return to Faenza with Racing Bulls

Midway through the 2023 season, it was confirmed that Mekies had parted ways with Ferrari prior to replacing the retiring Franz Tost as Team Principal at the then-called AlphaTauri team for 2024, meaning that he would return to the Faenza-based squad that he spent much of his early F1 career with.

Mekies’ appointment came as part of a restructure that saw Peter Bayer arrive as CEO, Tim Goss join as Racing Director and Alan Permane join in the position of Chief Technical Officer. And while the team faced a tricky start to 2024 in their new identity of RB, signs of progress started to appear as the campaign went on.

There were some hiccups along the way – including some regrets over the handling of Daniel Ricciardo’s exit – but Mekies was left feeling “optimistic” about what the squad could go on to achieve after making “steps forward” during the season.

Step up to Red Bull

There was plenty to keep Mekies busy at the start of 2025 when a driver swap took place after just two races, meaning that Liam Lawson returned while Yuki Tsunoda moved to Red Bull following a difficult start to the year for Lawson.

Now it has been confirmed that Mekies will reunite with Tsunoda at the main outfit, with the Frenchman taking on the position of CEO at Red Bull after the exit of Christian Horner was announced on July 9, while Alan Permane becomes Team Principal at Racing Bulls.

Mekies said of the news: “The last year and a half has been an absolute privilege to lead the team with Peter [Bayer].

“It has been an amazing adventure to contribute to the birth of Racing Bulls together with all our talented people. The spirit of the whole team is incredible, and I strongly believe that this is just the beginning.”

As he makes the next step in his extensive motorsport career, all eyes will be on Mekies as he prepares to get to work at Red Bull with immediate effect.