Red Bull Racing’s Secret Weapon? An Engineer Who Treats Workflows Like Lap Times

There’s a infinitesimal backstage astatine Web Summit erstwhile a personnel of nan accumulation unit — easy doubly nan size of Laurent Mekies — wraps a beefy limb astir nan Oracle Red Bull Racing CEO’s enarthrosis and steers him toward nan soundboard to retrieve his telephone for a selfie. Most executives starring 2,000-person organizations would bristle astatine nan informality, moreover from a superfan. Mekies alternatively smiles, his demeanor unchanged arsenic he accommodates nan starstruck unit member.

It’s a mini infinitesimal but possibly a revealing 1 astir Mekies who, conscionable 4 months ago, became only nan 2nd personification to lead Red Bull Racing successful its 20-year history.

“The first emotion is 1 of being privileged, being honored, to abruptly beryllium portion of specified an unthinkable team,” Mekies later tells maine onstage successful French-accented English. “This squad has been winning much than anyone other successful Formula One successful nan past 2 decades. And past abruptly you are portion of it.”

That accuracy extends to nan team’s partnerships. Take 1Password, nan cybersecurity institution whose CEO, David Faugno, sits beside Mekies and maine connected nan Web Summit stage. Faugno took complete his ain iconic marque 4 months agone — nan aforesaid week arsenic Mekies.

The business betwixt a cybersecurity institution and an F1 squad mightiness look unusual, but Mekies sees it arsenic integral to Red Bull’s competitory edge. In F1, thousandths of a 2nd matter. Every login, each strategy access, each workflow represents clip that could beryllium spent making nan car faster. “We deliberation we person nan champion group successful nan world,” says Mekies, but “we are besides going aft nan champion experts successful nan world astatine what they do, and that’s really we prime our partners. Our group person to negociate and log successful and log retired of analyzable systems — aerodynamics, conveyance dynamics astatine nan track, backmost astatine nan factory, astatine nan simulator, successful nan upwind tunnel.”

Traditionally, information intends friction. Passwords to check, systems to authenticate, delays that adhd up. But erstwhile I inquire astir this, Mekies says his squad flipped nan question. “We didn’t talk together really to minimize nan loss. We discussed together really to summation speed,” he says. “We spell coming faster successful this seamless login and logout of our group from 1 strategy to different than what we were doing without nan information level.”

It’s a mini competitory advantage, but successful F1, mini advantages compound. “You are looking aft nan tiniest competitory advantage, 1 aft nan other,” Mekies notes. “Our tech genius, our group — they are challenging america each time astir nan sound that is somewhat unavoidable for a ample team. With 1Password, we person this benignant of reply wherever we trim nan noise, summation nan clip for nan halfway business, and that’s fundamentally wherever nan capacity comes from.”

Faugno, for his part, sees nan business arsenic much than marketing. “We saw an opportunity to thief Oracle Red Bull Racing return a thousandth disconnected nan pace,” he says.

From technologist to CEO

At 48, Mekies has seen Formula 1 from astir each angle. After studying astatine ESTACA, an engineering schoolhouse successful Paris, and Loughborough University successful nan U.K., he started successful Formula 3 successful 2000 earlier crossing into F1 pinch a British racing squad called Arrows successful 2001. He past joined Minardi, an Italian team, successful 2003 arsenic a title engineer. When Red Bull bought nan struggling outfit and transformed it into Toro Rosso successful 2006 — nan thought was to create a inferior squad to create young drivers for illustration Max Verstappen for Red Bull Racing — Mekies was promoted to main engineer.

Mekies stayed for 8 years earlier moving connected to go information head astatine nan Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), nan rulemaker for Formula 1 and different motorsport bid worldwide. There, he reportedly championed nan titanium information instrumentality that’s mounted supra nan cockpit of Formula 1 cars to protect nan driver’s caput — nan “halo” system. Then it was connected to Ferrari arsenic lawman title director, and 5 years later, backmost to Red Bull’s inferior racing squad (renamed Racing Bulls successful 2024).

Mekies brings a breadth of acquisition to nan role, successful short. What he doesn’t bring — not yet, astatine slightest — is simply a batch of ego. When Verstappen won nan 2025 Italian Grand Prix astatine Monza successful September successful what became nan fastest title successful F1 history, reporters asked Mekies astir his publication to nan victory. His reply was self-effacing: “I person zero contribution.” When nan reporters laughed, he added, “I’m not kidding.”

When I inquire astir that infinitesimal connected shape astatine Web Summit, Mekies shrugs. “All we do arsenic leaders is put our group successful position to beryllium capable to definitive their talents. So it is very overmuch their win.”

Mekies sees his domiciled otherwise than his high-profile predecessor, successful fact. He isn’t deliberately trying to “lead from behind.” Instead, he tells maine onstage that he doesn’t “think nan attack matters. I don’t deliberation it’s activity style. You will find each imaginable style successful leadership. I deliberation what matters successful activity is attraction for nan group and a care-for-the-company culture.”

It was a risky call. With wholly caller regulations coming successful 2026 — caller chassis rules, caller powerfulness portion regulations — astir teams had already shifted resources to adjacent year’s car. But Mekies felt his squad needed to understand what had gone incorrect earlier they could move forward. “We felt we had to get to nan bottommost of what had not been working,” he says. “We possibly pushed a spot much than immoderate of nan competition. And luckily, it gave america this turnaround successful form.”

Now nan squad heads into wintertime pinch little improvement clip than its rivals, “but pinch a batch much spot successful our tools, successful our methodologies, successful our process,” Mekies says.

For a consciousness of what nan squad is taking on, here’s really Mekies describes it connected stage: “We are going to do our ain powerfulness portion pinch nan support from Ford, and we are going to compete against group that person been manufacturing Formula One engines for much than 90 years. It’s nan benignant of crazy level that only Red Bull tin do. We’ve decided to create overnight accommodation successful nan mediate of a section successful Milton Keynes [a ample municipality astir 50 miles northwest of London] successful nan U.K. from zero — get nan building, get nan dynos successful [which are massive, blase trial rigs], prosecute 600 people, effort to get them to activity together, yet effort to get an motor and get it up to velocity to scope nan track.”

Can he committedness Verstappen a championship-winning car adjacent year? When I inquire Mekies, he answers straightaway. “We would beryllium silly to deliberation that we conscionable spell successful location and are going to beryllium astatine nan correct level consecutive away. This is not going to happen,” he says. “But we return it nan Red Bull way. We return it pinch each nan high-risk, high-gain attack that we cherish.”

He has logic for optimism. Sitting 3rd successful this year’s F1 squad standings, conscionable down Mercedes, Red Bull has a realistic changeable astatine overtaking them for 2nd spot successful nan last 3 races of this year’s season. It’s a acold outcry from nan power Red Bull enjoyed successful caller years, but fixed really nan play started, it would correspond a awesome recovery.

Backstage earlier our conversation, arsenic constitution artists powder america for nan shape lights, I inquire Mekies astir nan unit of those last races. His reply is axenic racer.

“We ever opportunity that we return it title by race. So that’s what we are going to do successful nan adjacent 3 races,” he tells me. “You want to move up astatine nan racetrack, put nan car successful nan correct window,” meaning nan constrictive scope of conditions wherever a car performs optimally, “and conflict for nan win.”

It’s “incredibly difficult to conflict astatine that level,” he continues, “but everyone successful Milton Keynes has been doing specified a tremendous occupation to move nan car astir and to springiness america a competitory package for nan extremity of nan season.”

In nan meantime, he insists that he’s not looking astatine nan points tables aliases nan what-ifs. “We don’t look astatine nan numbers. We cognize location is simply a batch happening successful nan [F1 squad standings], but we only look astatine it title by race.”

That’s nan “only point we do,” he says, describing Red Bull’s mission. “Chasing thigh times.”