Laurent Mekies has just taken his first step towards becoming the next Christian Horner at Red Bull

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Laurent Mekies will surely be thrilled with his first half-season as Red Bull team principal, even if Max Verstappen missed out on the 2025 title at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

When Mekies took over from Christian Horner, even Verstappen himself had little to no hope of winning the championship. That’s why Horner planned to cut off 2025 development just after the summer break.

But Mekies believed there was still a chance and he switched the taps back on. This enabled Verstappen to mount an extraordinary charge with six wins from the final nine races.

While the comeback fell short, Red Bull did take third place from Ferrari in the constructors’ championship, significantly boosting their prize money. And numerous team members say the atmosphere at Milton Keynes has been completely transformed.

Laurent Mekies’ power likely to increase after Helmut Marko left Red Bull

While Mekies has been determined not to take any credit, this all reflects well on the Frenchman. And with Helmut Marko leaving Red Bull, he’s in a position to capitalise.

Marko has always been a powerful figure as the head of the Red Bull young driver programme. He was once the intermediary between the Austrian ownership and the race team.

But according to BBC Sport, Marko ‘realised he no longer had the control he once had’ in the months after Horner’s sacking. If he was expecting to become more influential, then he was shocked.

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This was exemplified by Marko’s failed pursuit of Alex Dunne. He angered the Red Bull hierarchy by signing the Irishman, who backed out of the agreement.

A report from The Times adds that Marko’s exit will likely trigger ‘a reset of Red Bull’s senior leadership group’, which ‘should bode well for Mekies’.

Laurent Mekies wasn’t supposed to be another Christian Horner

The narrative during the summer was that Mekies had taken on a much smaller remit than Horner, who was seen to be overstretched in his final years.

The former Racing Bulls boss comes from an engineering background, so even if he does take on more power, he will likely stick to managing the race team rather than the business.

There were rumblings last month that Mekies’ influence was growing at the expense of Marko. By letting the Austrian go a year before the end of his contract, Oliver Mintzlaff has firmly sided with the former.

Red Bull sports boss Mintzlaff will assume a greater role in the operation post-Marko, with no direct replacement sought.

Clearly, there will still be checking influences, but Mekies has moved up the chain. For instance, he will no longer have to collaborate with Marko when it comes to driver line-up selection.

In a sense, he has taken his first step towards becoming the first Horner. The scope of his role could look very different in a few years’ time if he continues to deliver success.