Jolyon Palmer says Red Bull staff are internally worried about one thing after Laurent Mekies replaced Christian Horner

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Red Bull’s Formula 1 team is set to enter a new era at the Belgian Grand Prix on the eve of the sport’s long-awaited summer break.

There’s no shortage of storylines either, following Christian Horner’s exit from the team and rumours tying Max Verstappen to a potential Mercedes move.

At this stage, it’s pretty clear that the entire Red Bull team is undergoing a reset ahead of the 2026 F1 regulations.

Their slide down the pack over the last 18 months has been extreme, and it has left them fourth in the constructors’ championship. It’s not where they want to be.

‘Senior’ Red Bull figures are ‘extremely happy’ with Racing Bulls and the way they have been managed by Laurent Mekies in 2025. It’s part of the reason why he was chosen to succeed Horner.

With Verstappen considering a move to Mercedes’ rivals, it’s important that Mekies can show him that the team has the potential to be title contenders still in the future. Keeping his superstar beyond 2025 will be huge.

READ MORE: Juan Pablo Montoya believes he’s now seen a ‘sign’ that suggests Max Verstappen’s move to Mercedes is close

Jolyon Palmer says Red Bull staff are internally worried about more people leaving the team

Red Bull ‘must’ change for Verstappen, according to Gary Anderson, who believes that the RB21 needs to be made more driver-friendly.

The results of the second car in the hands of Yuki Tsunoda say everything that needs to be known about their struggles. Simply put, they don’t have a fast enough car overall.

Helmut Marko has fired a Red Bull ‘disaster’ warning and wants things to be turned around quickly. He hopes that new upgrades coming soon will help.

Now Jolyon Palmer has revealed that there are some fears within the team that there will be further departures over the coming months.

“I think they will all be really gearing up behind him at the moment, because this is after the fallout of everything in the last year and a half and the key personnel that have left Red Bull,” he told the F1 Nation podcast.

“There’s a lot of people within the team that are looking around and thinking, ‘Who’s going to go next?’ The whole team was very unsettled and this is the chance now for the rest of the team are still very good at what they do. To regalvanise and put their support behind Laurent.”

READ MORE: ‘A lot of people’ around Max Verstappen have made it clear which team they want him to race for in 2026

What will Red Bull’s driver line-up look like in 2026?

Red Bull engineers feel Verstappen was ‘taken for granted’ and that the four-time champion wasn’t appreciated as much as he should have been.

Without him, they would be very close to the bottom of the standings if Liam Lawson and Tsunoda were paired in the car.

The idea that the Dutchman has managed to win two races in that car is almost insane. If they don’t improve for next season then, then it will be hard to see him hanging around for 2027.

If Mercedes sign Verstappen then they could be elevated back into a position where they would be able to dominate, just five years on from their last spell ending.