Laurent Mekies names his dream F1 line-up with Max Verstappen surprisingly omitted

Mekies, appearing on the Talking Bull Podcast, was asked about his ideal historical driver line-up.

Regarding that, he admitted being a huge fan of Ayrton Senna and chose Michael Schumacher to pair with him in a hypothetical duo.

“I tell you what, Michael,” he began by saying.

“Michael, again, besides the obvious and what has been achieved on the track, having been for many years at Ferrari just after Michael’s time, you can measure how deep the imprinting from his years was.

“Not only for the sport, but for the Scuderia and certainly, he would be one [driver] to put [in] there.”

Mekies took up a role with Ferrari in 2018 after previously spending four years as safety director at the FIA, but the Scuderia failed to match their post-Schumacher success during his tenure there.

Though Ferrari has struggled since then, Mekies will take lessons learned there into Red Bull, where Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel have delivered more titles than Ferrari has managed since Schumacher left.

Laurent Mekies’ driver-focused approach at Ferrari inspires Lewis Hamilton

Mekies has allowed Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda greater control over their set-ups since taking over from Christian Horner, a move that has had mixed results.

Verstappen’s input was key to his win at Monza, where few expected Red Bull to challenge McLaren.

However, this strategy has sometimes been counterproductive, notably with Tsunoda’s Sprint Race performance at Interlagos, which ultimately resulted in a double Q1 elimination.

Ferrari have not won a race this season, and while they are still mathematically in the hunt for second place in the constructors’ standings, it has been a frustrating campaign overall.

Lewis Hamilton has called on Ferrari to emulate Red Bull by prioritizing and acting upon the feedback provided by himself and teammate Charles Leclerc to a greater extent than they currently do.

However, this could prove difficult, as Ferrari are known for being resistant to change regarding particular choices.