The team Red Bull Racing He has put an end to an era. This Wednesday announced that the British Christian Horner Leave his position as team leader, being replaced by the French Laurent Mekiesin a movement that marks a turning point after two decades of leadership.
Horner, 51, assumed the direction of Red Bull in 2005 and took the team to conquer SIX BUILDING TITLES and Eight pilot championshipsequitably distributed between Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen. However, its exit comes in the middle of A performance dropinternal conflicts and growing tensions with key equipment figures.
In 2024, Horner was investigated for accusations of sexual harassment by an employee, although he was acquitted. Despite this, the reputational crisis and sports deterioration undermined their continuity.
Red Bull communicated: “Christian Horner has been released from its operational functions as of today. Laurent Mekies assumes as CEO of Red Bull Racing.” Mekies, former sports director of Ferrariwill have as its main challenge Recover competitiveness of a team that today It occupies the fourth place of the World Cup of Builderswith alone Two victories in 12 great awards.
The new team leader must also rebuild the relationship with Max Verstappencurrently third in the championship, and resist the interest of Mercedeswhich seeks to sign the Dutch pilot. In addition, Red Bull recently lost his historic engineer Adrian Neweywho joined Aston Martin.
With McLaren dominating the season And the pilots Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris leading the table, the challenge for Mekies is clear: Recover the Red Bull winner DNA.
