Does Max Verstappen like Laurent Mekies more than Christian Horner?

Naomi Schiff (0:02)

This is a Global Production.

Will Buxton (0:04)

Laurent Mekies has a contract extension in his pocket. The man, of course, who replaced Christian Horner at Red Bull Racing.

Jolie Sharpe (0:11)

He's got a contract longer than Verstappen does.

Naomi Schiff (0:13)

He's obviously a very different character to Christian.

Will Buxton (0:16)

Max Verstappen has been quite vocal on this, saying that the culture under Mekies isn't quite as spicy as it was under Christian.

Naomi Schiff (0:22)

I think it's more important to shift that energy towards your competitors than destroying yourself internally.

Jolie Sharpe (0:27)

I don't think we should assume that a quieter leader is necessarily a weaker leader.

Will Buxton (0:33)

We sort of have Drive to Survive to blame for this. It's Will.

Naomi Schiff (0:48)

It's Naomi.

Jolie Sharpe (0:49)

It's Jolie.

Will Buxton (0:49)

Welcome to Up To Speed. Right. On this episode, Laurent Mekies has a contract extension in his pocket. The man, of course, who replaced Christian Horner at Red Bull Racing. And to that point, we had Christian Horner on the pod last week. The interview now available to everyone on all platforms. We're going to talk Franco Colapinto as he calls out his fans for Abuse and Max Verstappen in a GT Racing masterclass.

Jolie Sharpe (1:14)

Well, before we get into everything we've got to discuss on this episode, Naomi, I need to know, we need to know how was Rwanda?

Naomi Schiff (1:21)

Welcome back. It was amazing. Thanks for the welcome back. We missed you guys out there.

Jolie Sharpe (1:25)

We missed you.

Naomi Schiff (1:26)

And you guys missed out on an opportunity to get on a helicopter ride and see the layout of where the track will be.

Jolie Sharpe (1:31)

I did have FOMO, I'm going to be honest. Major FOMO.

Naomi Schiff (1:32)

Well, we missed you. Definitely.

Jolie Sharpe (1:34)

And on Rwanda, look, there's been lots of love in the comments for our chat with the Rwandan track designers, Alex Vertz and Karsten Tilke. And guess what? On Up To Speed Plus, we've got more bonus content from them, more on how they're avoiding and murdering repeats, BTS of the new track, and we're answering the questions you put in the comments. So to see that, hit the join button on YouTube or hit subscribe now on Global Player.

Will Buxton (1:58)

Right, Laurent Mekies, extension of his contract to the end of 2031

Max Verstappen has been quite vocal on this, saying that the culture under Mekies isn't quite as spicy as it was under Christian, but I obviously quite like how things are going at the moment with everyone's behaviour. Let's put it like that. It's less stressful, we're all leading a stressful life and when you can take a bit of stress out of it at times, it's good. To be honest, I like to see that people get on. It's not nice when you constantly have tension between people. That was Mekies' view. And this is what Christian Horner said to us.

Naomi Schiff (2:34)

You described that.

Will Buxton (2:35)

Laurent does not know how easy he has it now.

Naomi Schiff (2:38)

Okay.

Will Buxton (2:38)

It's all a bit boring, isn't it now? It's all too nice.

Naomi Schiff (2:40)

Toto's having it far too easy.

Will Buxton (2:42)

You can, of course, hear everything that Christian said in his interview with Naomi and DC. What do we make of Laurent Mekies and the job that he's doing that has led to this extension?

Naomi Schiff (2:53)

Will you tell us, Will, what do you think?

Will Buxton (2:55)

I think Laurent's doing a grand job. And it's a difficult thing to go into a team and to so quickly change a culture that had been ingrained ever since the start of that team, because let's not forget, Christian was at Red Bull Racing from the get go, from day one.

So to go in there and to so swiftly and effectively change an ingrained culture, I think he's done a tremendous job, because that's not an easy thing to do.

Jolie Sharpe (3:20)

I totally agree. And look, 2031, it's a big vote in confidence. You know, they could have extended it by a year, you know, two years. He's got a contract longer than Verstappen does, which is also pretty wild.

And look, I think you touch upon Horner there, and that leads me to a question to both of you. Can a team be so ruthlessly competitive without being, you know, internally combative? We know Horner doesn't necessarily think so. Max has obviously come out with this quote recently and saying, you know, it's really nice, actually, that everyone is getting on.