New Purple Bull Racing CEO and workforce principal Laurent Mekies says his first job is to “uncover the magic” throughout the workforce by means of assembly personnel, earlier than specializing in the problem of the 2026 rules.
Mekies changed Christian Horner on Wednesday, with Horner being faraway from his place after over 20 years operating the System 1 workforce. Stepping up from Racing Bulls, Mekies – who was talking throughout a filming day at Silverstone – mentioned he nonetheless wants to satisfy as most of the employees as doable earlier than the Belgian Grand Prix, to know how the workforce operates.
“The following step, what you can not wait to do, is to satisfy the folks,” Mekies mentioned. “It has been not even a day now, so I simply cannot wait to satisfy as many individuals as doable from this unimaginable workforce. You need to uncover the magic, to satisfy the blokes and the ladies which can be doing the magic behind the scenes.
“That is what the subsequent few weeks will probably be devoted to – to attempt to meet as a lot of our folks as doable, to take heed to them, to attempt to perceive this stunning magic machine that’s Purple Bull System 1 and finally discover methods to contribute and to help [it].”
Mekies says his impression of Purple Bull from the surface has all the time been of a workforce stuffed with world-class abilities, and that he’s eager to make sure they will function on the highest degree transferring ahead.
“I nonetheless take a look at these guys as most individuals outdoors of the workforce take a look at them. We take a look at you guys and we see the easiest folks on the earth at what they do. That is what this workforce is. Even from being a competitor beforehand, we take a look at [Red Bull] as being the sharpest workforce, having managed to build up the largest quantity of abilities collectively.
“We’re not underestimating the problem forward. System 1 goes to face in all probability the largest change of regulation in its historical past, and it has a really explicit place for Purple Bull as we go together with our personal energy models. So it will be an unimaginable problem, and we’ll want everybody to go about all of it collectively.”
As for Horner’s legacy at Purple Bull, Mekies identified that his personal earlier function at Racing Bulls got here with Horner’s approval.
“The primary ideas are for Christian. It nonetheless feels a bit unreal to be right here and to not see him,” he mentioned. “It might be not possible to underestimate the dimensions of the achievement that this workforce has had below 20 years of Christian’s management.
“I met him 20 years in the past when he was the youngest workforce principal in System 1. It is unbelievable to see how he has turned this place to the extent at which it’s now – and in that journey, the numerous, many titles and wins. Christian can be the man that, along with Helmut [Marko, team advisor] and Oliver [Mintzlaff, CEO], introduced me again into the Purple Bull household two years in the past. All the primary ideas are actually for him as we speak.”
