Red Bull is Already Becoming Much More Competitive According to Verstappen

The downfall of Red Bull, going from the most competitive team to scrapping for podiums this season. With all of Red Bull’s most essential leaders set to leave by the middle of this year. It’s no wonder that Red Bull is less competitive this year. But with all the new pieces falling into place, RBR might already be rebuilding.

New People in Charge

After Horner was fired due to his scandal, Laurent Mekies was hired as the new team principal of Red Bull Racing. Before his new role, Mekiesn was a career-long engineer after graduating from Loughborough from 2000 to 2014. Starting in F3 only a year later, he made his way to the F1 mid-pack, going to Arrows in 2001 and then Minardi in 2003.

In 2005, Red Bull acquired Minardi to form Toro Rosso, now known as Scuderia AlphaTauri, and Mekies was one of the few key personnel from Minardi who stayed and played a crucial role in making Toro Rosso more competitive than Minardi ever was, after he was promoted to chief engineer.

In 2014, he decided to leave working for teams and instead work for the FIA, joining as a safety director and then becoming a deputy race director in 2017. In 2018, he achieved a dream many have had and joined Ferrari’s F1 team, becoming head of the Track and Performance department in 2019 before being appointed Deputy Team Principal and Racing Director of Ferrari in January 2021.

In 2023, he left as Ferrari’s Racing Director to take up the team principal position at his old team, technically. He became the team principal of Racing Bulls and did so well that he became the team principal of RBR after Horner’s sacking. Another important new player in the Red Bull garage is the brand-new technical director, Pierre Waché, although not entirely new.

He was actually part of Red Bull’s most competitive periods, but in 2001, he started his career at Michelin with their F1 program. In 2009, though, he would enter the Sauber garage as their performance engineer, focusing on tires and suspension. Then, in 2013, he left them behind for Red Bull, starting as chief engineer and then technical director, 2nd only to Newey when it came to car design.

Together, they rebuilt Red Bull to 1 of their most competitive periods from 2021 to 2024. On the surface, it could be Waché’s fault, as he designed the 2025 car, which has lacked the competitive speed the other Red Bulls have. But it’s an issue that they might already be fixing!

Red Bull’s Monza Speed

Verstappen’s Red Bull finished FP1 in 4th and FP2 in 6th, a result that Max Verstappen himself noted already makes them faster and more competitive than they were last year. With Max even saying that “the car seemed a lot more competitive than last year.” And looking at the numbers only shows how right he is. As in 2024, Red Bull qualified 7th and 8th at Monza, which translated to finishes of 6th and 8th on race day. So a high of 4th is a noticeable improvement in their competitive speed.

Although, as of right now, the improvement is one-sided. As in FP2, Verstappen’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda finished 9th, and in FP1, Tsunoda finished 14th, so yeah, not nearly as competitive as Verstappen. Perez was even right behind Verstappen that same 2024 Monza weekend. Red Bull is known for not treating its 2nd drivers very well, with all the design philosophy being built around Verstappen entirely.

And it looks like that’s hurting the Japanese driver so far this weekend. This could make a difference to the constructors’ standings, though. In FP2, both Red Bull cars outperformed both Mercedes cars, with Russell finishing 10th and Kimi 19th after a spin. So, Red Bull might have a chance to close that 34-point gap, making it easier to reach 3rd in the Constructors standings. Thanks a bunch for reading!