Laurent Mekies, the Man Who Has Worked Every Side of the Table

The regional series’ finest technical inspector put in four years examining the cars of others before a team made him an offer to build their own. It was plain to see why they were after him. He had a feel for where the rulebook was pliable, where teams put their secrets, and which contentions the stewards would be inclined to go along with on a Sunday night. Those who do the hiring are aware that a man has something to offer from having been on both sides of a protest table that one cannot learn in either chair by itself.

Then there is Laurent Mekies, who has occupied three sides of it. Eight years as an engineer at Toro Rosso, four at the FIA to write and enforce the regulations the cars must abide by, five at Ferrari in an attempt to best Red Bull. In July 2025 he became head of Red Bull Racing and on October 14, 2026, the team put pen to paper to keep him until 2031, a season beyond the driver everyone takes for granted is what keeps the team in business.

The engineering years

Mekies started his career towards the rear of the grid as most do not. After time in Formula Three with Signature and Asiatech he was at Minardi in 2002 representing the engine supplier, then race engineer the year after. When Red Bull’s purchase of Minardi made it Toro Rosso he was there and over eight seasons made his way to chief engineer and head of vehicle performance.

There is more to it than meets the eye. He was in the Faenza building in its day when it set about proving young drivers, the 2008 season and Vettel’s Monza victory among them, and in so doing learned the workings of an operation Red Bull would later have him run on two occasions. The full list of positions is in the table above but the pattern is he has never come in as an outsider.

Four years on the other side

In 2014 he made the switch to the FIA from Toro Rosso as safety director, looking after medical and safety issues for all FIA championships rather than the fortunes of a single team. Charlie Whiting had him as deputy race director three years on, a post that meant being in race control on Sunday afternoons to make the calls a race director makes while the teams spent the week in dispute over them.

Not many in the paddock can say they have done both. An engineer is taught to find a regulation’s edge and make it his home; a race director sees it from on high and how frequently those below are mistaken as to where it is. Mekies did the former for eight years and the latter for four. By September 2018 he was at Ferrari and sporting director come November, but rival teams put up such a stink he had to relinquish his FIA role forthwith and was only seen at the Ferrari pit wall for the last race of the year.

Ferrari, then a return to Faenza

Five years with Ferrari followed, with a promotion to deputy team principal and racing director in January 2021. The time there spanned the close of an engine era and the opening of a new one but did not yield a championship. It did make of him a man who had viewed Red Bull from within and from above as well as from over the garage of its nearest rival.

In 2023 he departed in search of his own team and put down roots where he had begun. By the start of 2024 Mekies was team principal at the Faenza outfit, then known as RB and to be called Racing Bulls in short order. He put in a season with Liam Lawson and the newcomer Isack Hadjar before a phone call put paid to that.

A job no one has had before

Christian Horner had been at the helm of Red Bull Racing since it was formed in 2005, for twenty years during which the team put eight drivers’ championships in the bag and set the standard for all others. On July 9, 2025, Horner was done with and Mekies was put in as chief executive and team principal with immediate effect, the first person other than Horner to hold the role.

The public has never been given a full account of the departure. The point is that in the middle of a season Red Bull put out a team principal of twenty years standing and picked someone already on the premises, this some months after Adrian Newey’s move to Aston Martin. The rest is in the table above. Mekies came in midway through the 2025 season and saw it out two points behind the title, with Verstappen on 421 to Lando Norris’s 423. New rules were in place for 2026 and the team fell behind early on; the first two victories of the year were not forthcoming until October at Sepang and Singapore. The one at Sepang was a first for the Red Bull Ford engine too, the first power unit they have constructed themselves.

Underwriting the champion

Ten days after the win at Sepang the news was made public. At a debrief in Milton Keynes shareholder Mark Mateschitz confirmed a five-year extension for Mekies to see him through 2031.

The end date is what stands out. Verstappen is under contract to 2030 and has more than once said he is staying because of Mekies and the work being done on the rebuild. So Red Bull has tied up the reason for his presence for a season longer than the man himself. Whether that is sound planning or an insurance policy that will cost depends on the next couple of years. They have renewed Hadjar as well. The principal is now bound to 2031, the champion to 2030, and the second driver to 2027.

An inspector friend of mine is still putting cars together and reads protests in a way none of the others in the trailer would. In a manner of speaking Mekies is doing the same thing on a grander scale in motorsport, with the same kind of qualification and a contract that will outlive the driver it was put in place to retain.

Questions about Laurent Mekies

01

Who runs Red Bull Racing now?

Laurent Mekies, as chief executive and team principal since July 9, 2025. He replaced Christian Horner, who had held the role since the team was formed in 2005.

02

Where did Mekies work before Red Bull?

Minardi and Toro Rosso as an engineer, the FIA as safety director and deputy race director, Ferrari as sporting director and later racing director, and Racing Bulls as team principal.

03

When did Mekies join Red Bull Racing?

July 2025, moving from the sister team at Faenza. He had already returned to the Red Bull organization at the start of 2024.

04

How long is his contract?

Through the end of 2031, after a five-year extension announced on October 14, 2026. That is one season longer than Max Verstappen’s current deal.

05

What did he do at the FIA?

He was safety director from 2014, responsible for safety and medical matters across all FIA championships, and became deputy race director alongside Charlie Whiting in 2017.

Jake Holloway is a club racer, track-day instructor, and motorsports editor based near Charlotte, North Carolina. He has raced karts, Legends cars, Spec Miatas, and amateur endurance cars, and he writes for GreenyCars about how racing actually works, from the rule book to the pit lane.