Gazzetta: Mekies’ Ferrari-inspired methods driving Red Bull revival

Red Bull’s resurgence under Laurent Mekies is being closely watched across the paddock and, according to Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport, much of the credit belongs to a change in working philosophy since Christian Horner’s departure.

Former Red Bull driver Robert Doornbos says the team’s rapid transformation must sting for the ousted boss, even if his reported £100 million severance softens the blow.

"It was an incredible decision by the Red Bull board to fire Christian Horner mid-season," Doornbos told the Pit Talk Podcast. "Nobody saw that coming - not the team, but not Christian himself as well."

He concedes, however, that the results speak for themselves. "It's strange to see, and it must be confronting for Christian," he said. "After two weekends, he won his first Grand Prix," Doornbos added, referring to Mekies, whose calm, engineer-driven style contrasts sharply with Horner’s.

Dr Helmut Marko agrees that the Frenchman has reinvigorated Red Bull’s approach. "He's established a different approach to technical setup," Marko told Sky Deutschland. "We're no longer miles off on Fridays like we used to be. We had almost given up on everything in the summer, and now everyone is really hungry again. That creates a great dynamic."

With Max Verstappen back to full strength and closing on the McLarens, Marko insists the team’s weaknesses have vanished. "There is no longer a track where we would have to say that we are at a disadvantage," he said.

In La Gazzetta dello Sport, analyst Paolo Filisetti outlined how Mekies’ leadership has reshaped Milton Keynes from within. From Monza onward - when the RB21’s revised floor debuted - Red Bull began adopting a Ferrari-style simulator preparation process, he explained, arriving at each circuit with a far more refined baseline setup.

Filisetti wrote that this deeper simulator work “reduced the margin for error and therefore time loss, which is crucial in a Sprint format weekend,” allowing flawless execution once track action began.

Since Mekies’ appointment, he added, “many things, silent and barely visible from the outside, have changed,” proving that leadership detail “can determine seemingly insignificant differences which, in fact, are only apparently so.”