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Laurent Mekies is now team principal of the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team after Christian Horner was given the boot in July, having been in charge for 20 years
Christian Horner texted Martin Brundle in the aftermath of his former Red Bull team’s victory at the Italian Grand Prix. And the Sky Sports pundit told viewers on air what the former team principal had messaged to him following the win from pole secured by Max Verstappen.
The Dutchman found the performance in his RB21 car to not only succeed in qualifying but also produce the race pace he needed to get the better of his McLaren rivals. His victory was Red Bull’s first in a Grand Prix since Laurent Mekies took over as team boss.
It was also the first time he had stood on the top step of the podium since the Imola race in May. Red Bull’s performance had shown decline in the events that followed which, in part, led to the shock decision to replace Horner as team principal and chief executive.
The pace shown by Verstappen at Monza came as a surprise to most, with Ferrari seemingly the chief challengers to McLaren in practice. And it seems Horner was among those caught off guard by what his former team was able to produce at the Temple of Speed.
Brundle revealed as much as he spoke in his role as a pundit for Sky Sports after the Monza race. Commenting on what Red Bull achieved, Brundle took out his phone to paraphrase what Horner had written to him in a text message.
He said: “A message from Christian Horner here, actually, saying, ‘This was our worst race last year. We had the wrong downforce level’, and how hard the team have worked on that package and done a great job. Of course, they have turned it around.”
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Verstappen has been unhappy with the balance of his car for most of the season, despite still being able to get the very best out of it. The Dutchman is third in the championship with 230 points and three Grand Prix victories, though he is 94 behind leader Oscar Piastri.
The RB21 seems to have been a largely temperamental machine, unless the perfect set-up for a specific circuit is found. But, having worked hard with his engineers on trying to fix that particular trait, Verstappen hinted after the Monza race that a breakthrough had finally been made.
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He said: “Throughout this season we have been all over the shop, but now we finally seem to have found a direction which suits the car. So I hope that, from now on, it will be a little more consistent.”
If he is correct, it will also be good news for Yuki Tsunoda who has struggled all year with the car and scored only nine points since he was elevated into that seat two rounds into the season. The Japanese spent most of the year without the same upgrades as Verstappen but now has a similar spec machine and he has managed to narrow the performance gap since.
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