2025 Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team

[Wouter]

Max visited the Red Bull Ford Powertrains factory today.

[WardenOfTheNorth]

You know what, maybe it's just me, but has anyone else noticed a change in Max since Horner left? He seems more relaxed. Or is it just coincidence that the upturn in performance has happened just after Horner left and so Max is enjoying driving more again.

I do feel that the team has become less divisive with Mekes in charge.

[Wouter]

You know what, maybe it's just me, but has anyone else noticed a change in Max since Horner left? He seems more relaxed. Or is it just coincidence that the upturn in performance has happened just after Horner left and so Max is enjoying driving more again.

I do feel that the team has become less divisive with Mekes in charge.

.
Yes, he is more relaxed and much happier. The photo's with Horner were always staged ... now smile ,,, in front of the camera.

[venkyhere]

In my opinion, Horner had great leadership qualities and had the ability to convince the best car designer to stick with the team for ~20 yrs or so, and he must have been a great man manager, to recruit and build a 'sharp' team in all different aspects that an F1 org calls for. More than anything, he believed in 'all or nothing', was a risk taker - RBPT is a pretty brave and highly risky move. But his biggest flaw (just like Toto Wolff) is that he isn't an engineer. So there is no way for him to call the bluff of his technical team. In that way, Mekies being the 'buck stops with him' guy, is in a much better position to recognize technical faux pas and mainly to 'take responsibility' for a technical direction choice the team needs to make at various points. Particularly so, in this next regulation era where both engine and chassis are changing. Some bold and brave decisions need to be made. The 'our own engine' that has fallen into Mekies' lap, it isn't something he is comfortable with (I'm sure) , yet he has to be the 'buck stops with him' guy about the entire powertrain team. In that regard, Mekies is the better guy to 'make technical calls' rather than Horner who would have to blindly trust the Technical Director. In a way, having a technical CEO/TP, frees up the technical team as well. Someone 'above' is going to be the 'responsible person' and they can work with more freedom/brave-choices. But regarding the large chunk of 'other roles' that a CEO/TP has to play -- people management, money, sponsors, future roadmap etc etc -- all uncharted waters for Mekies (all of which Horner excelled at). So we need to 'wait and see'.

[f1isgood]

You know what, maybe it's just me, but has anyone else noticed a change in Max since Horner left? He seems more relaxed. Or is it just coincidence that the upturn in performance has happened just after Horner left and so Max is enjoying driving more again.

I do feel that the team has become less divisive with Mekes in charge.

F1 fans are something else

Eating up photoshoots to judge team morale is special. Like really special. Are you all for real?

[Wouter]

You know what, maybe it's just me, but has anyone else noticed a change in Max since Horner left? He seems more relaxed. Or is it just coincidence that the upturn in performance has happened just after Horner left and so Max is enjoying driving more again.

I do feel that the team has become less divisive with Mekes in charge.

.
F1 fans are something else

Eating up photoshoots to judge team morale is special. Like really special. Are you all for real?

.
Several people of all kinds already stated the atmosphere in the team is much better now, much more relaxed.
Would they all lying? Even from people who don't belong to RB.

[Farnborough]

You know what, maybe it's just me, but has anyone else noticed a change in Max since Horner left? He seems more relaxed. Or is it just coincidence that the upturn in performance has happened just after Horner left and so Max is enjoying driving more again.

I do feel that the team has become less divisive with Mekes in charge.

.
F1 fans are something else

Eating up photoshoots to judge team morale is special. Like really special. Are you all for real?

.
Several people of all kinds already stated the atmosphere in the team is much better now, much more relaxed.
Would they all lying? Even from people who don't belong to RB.

No titles or trophy are given out for this attribute.

8 championship against all comers says a lot.

We're yet to find out where this period of staffing arrangements leads to.

Give it four years, then we can be collective in our judgement as to effectiveness

[Wouter]

Max will take part in a GT4 car on Saturday race 1 on the NSL.
Live in about 41 hours. Saturday 11:10 AM , CET.

.
Max arrived an hour ago at the Nürburgring at the motorhome of "his team" Lionspeed GP.





Qualification can be seen here Saturday morning 08:10 CET:

[f1isgood]

In my opinion, Horner had great leadership qualities and had the ability to convince the best car designer to stick with the team for ~20 yrs or so, and he must have been a great man manager, to recruit and build a 'sharp' team in all different aspects that an F1 org calls for. More than anything, he believed in 'all or nothing', was a risk taker - RBPT is a pretty brave and highly risky move. But his biggest flaw (just like Toto Wolff) is that he isn't an engineer. So there is no way for him to call the bluff of his technical team. In that way, Mekies being the 'buck stops with him' guy, is in a much better position to recognize technical faux pas and mainly to 'take responsibility' for a technical direction choice the team needs to make at various points. Particularly so, in this next regulation era where both engine and chassis are changing. Some bold and brave decisions need to be made. The 'our own engine' that has fallen into Mekies' lap, it isn't something he is comfortable with (I'm sure) , yet he has to be the 'buck stops with him' guy about the entire powertrain team. In that regard, Mekies is the better guy to 'make technical calls' rather than Horner who would have to blindly trust the Technical Director. In a way, having a technical CEO/TP, frees up the technical team as well. Someone 'above' is going to be the 'responsible person' and they can work with more freedom/brave-choices. But regarding the large chunk of 'other roles' that a CEO/TP has to play -- people management, money, sponsors, future roadmap etc etc -- all uncharted waters for Mekies (all of which Horner excelled at). So we need to 'wait and see'.

You are overstating the amount of technical knowledge that a single person has in a team. Mekies will have to be a special one to have anywhere near as much success as Horner had on track.

And it is fair to absolutely say that the 2026 car will have had essentially no input from Mekies. It will be on Wache's head. But then every car since 2018 was on Wache's head and he turned out to be quite a capable guy.

Newey leaving RB now is obviously an issue, but it’s not 2010 anymore and the team will keep running as long as the team structure remains coherent.

If the chassis is good next year, most credit will go to whatever people Horner put in place including the likes of Wache, Balbo, Skinner and Waterhouse. If the chassis is bad, it will fall on the same people.

Hodgkinson is on the line with the RBPT project as well.

In the end, Red Bull is the most successful team this regulation cycle. I think they can and should be proud of the job they did, especially after 2021. With the cost cap restriction and the lack of wind tunnel, something had to catch up at some point. 2024 was unfortunately that and McLaren found something very cool in the meantime. I said this at the start of this year and will say it again - Red Bull won this cycle. I am sure Red Bull will take winning 5/8 titles than 3/8 titles and being useless for a good while.

[pantherxxx]

I think Ford is well-positioned to help Red Bull to develop a highly competitive MGU-K for the 2026 regs, given its significant investments in EV technology. They demonstrated expertise through projects like the Supervan 4.2, which showcased its high-performance EV capabilities. With the MGU-K now delivering nearly 500 horsepower, a substantial increase from its previous iterations in F1, prior experience for teams like Ferrari and Mercedes offers less advantage, leveling the playing field for newcomers like Ford. OFC the internal combustion engine component remains a challenge.

[venkyhere]

You are overstating the amount of technical knowledge that a single person has in a team. Mekies will have to be a special one to have anywhere near as much success as Horner had on track.

You misunderstood what I meant.
Of course, no single person can have knowledge of all the minute details of any moderately complex technological product, forget an F1 car.

What I meant was - regarding the four broad aspects of an F1 car - powertrain, chassis, aero, operations/strategy , having a TP with engineering knowledge will allow him to better judge whether a proposal/idea falls in the category of possible/remotely-possible/absolute-BS/cartoonish etc. This is important, look what happened to Mercedes in the ground effect era. Look how Mclaren transformed once the changes were made at the apex of the technical org, and how Brown isn't the TP. Look how Redbull peaked in the early part of ground effect era, when Newey was in such a 'calling the shots' position. Time is very costly in this budget cap era of F1, so 'getting the calls atleast reasonably correct the first time itself' is more important than ever before. There isn't room to experiment, so not getting blindsided by any one department with an overtly optimistic proposal is important. The TP should be able to decide 'hmm.. maybe X is overestimating his teams ability'. Redbull had Newey in such a role, beside Horner (during both successful and non-successful eras) and that is an important reason for the hit-rate of this team.

It remains to be seen, how good Mekies is, in making such direction calls. Being an engineer is helpful, but not a guarantee. That was my point.

[BassVirolla]

You are overstating the amount of technical knowledge that a single person has in a team. Mekies will have to be a special one to have anywhere near as much success as Horner had on track.

You misunderstood what I meant.
Of course, no single person can have knowledge of all the minute details of any moderately complex technological product, forget an F1 car.

What I meant was - regarding the four broad aspects of an F1 car - powertrain, chassis, aero, operations/strategy , having a TP with engineering knowledge will allow him to better judge whether a proposal/idea falls in the category of possible/remotely-possible/absolute-BS/cartoonish etc. This is important, look what happened to Mercedes in the ground effect era. Look how Mclaren transformed once the changes were made at the apex of the technical org, and how Brown isn't the TP. Look how Redbull peaked in the early part of ground effect era, when Newey was in such a 'calling the shots' position. Time is very costly in this budget cap era of F1, so 'getting the calls atleast reasonably correct the first time itself' is more important than ever before. There isn't room to experiment, so not getting blindsided by any one department with an overtly optimistic proposal is important. The TP should be able to decide 'hmm.. maybe X is overestimating his teams ability'. Redbull had Newey in such a role, beside Horner (during both successful and non-successful eras) and that is an important reason for the hit-rate of this team.

It remains to be seen, how good Mekies is, in making such direction calls. Being an engineer is helpful, but not a guarantee. That was my point.

And as such, is much better the RB than was Tost's Alpha Tauri.