Max Verstappen is more ‘on board’ with experimental Red Bull decision after Christian Horner’s exit

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Max Verstappen is taking positive steps at Red Bull Racing after the exit of Christian Horner as team principal.

Laurent Mekies was appointed as Red Bull team principal after the British Grand Prix.

Christian Horner’s sacking by Red Bull took everyone by surprise, as Mekies was given very little notice before his promotion from Racing Bulls.

However, there have been positive signs coming out of the Anglo-Austrian team since Mekies’ arrival.

Max Verstappen won the Sprint Race in Belgium before taking pole position and winning the Italian Grand Prix.

Yuki Tsunoda has benefited from Mekies’ arrival, having previously worked together at Racing Bulls, and he’s now receiving a similar spec car to the four-time drivers’ champion.

Horner’s exit was always going to see a myriad of changes begin to take place at their Milton Keynes factory, and at Red Bull’s base in Austria.

Journalist Jon Noble believes that Verstappen is more ‘on board’ with the experimental approach that Mekies is beginning to take.

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Max Verstappen ‘on board’ with Laurent Mekies experimenting at Red Bull since Christian Horner’s exit

Noble was speaking about the changes taking place at Red Bull since Horner’s exit on The Race F1 Podcast.

He explained: “I think what has slightly shifted between Christian and Laurent is a more engineering focus from the top in terms of Laurent’s very hands-on speaking to drivers, speaking to the engineers, kind of getting heavily involved in something because it’s his background.

“So, you had his push for Yuki’s floor change in Belgium, for example, and the debate over the two wing specs in Monza getting heavily involved in that area.

“Laurent talked last week about a risk-taking approach he’s willing to take just to find out what the performance limits of the car are.

“So, he said they took risks in Hungary, which I guess is related to setup and aero approach, it backfired, because they had a terrible weekend, and they took risks last weekend with the ultra low wing, and it paid off.

“So, I think there’s a greater willingness to experiment and a focus that Max is a bit more on board with, especially because now he can’t leave anyway, so he’s wedded to the team.

“I think he’s doing what he needs to do in this short period of time. But I think we haven’t yet seen the kind of sliding doors impact of how things would have been different if Christian had changed yet.”

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Max Verstappen warned about his chances at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Verstappen has won three Grand Prix this season, more than any other driver outside of the McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

The best he can hope for this year is to disrupt their title fight, although the Azerbaijan Grand Prix has never been his strongest venue.

Verstappen went against Pierre Wache’s advice at Monza to set the car up in a way that benefited him in qualifying and the race itself.

However, Red Bull’s experimenting at the Hungarian Grand Prix resulted in one of their worst results of the season, with the Dutchman squeezing into the points in ninth.

Baku could be very different to Monza for Verstappen, with the incredibly quick street circuit providing plenty of unique challenges.

For example, the height of the kerbs could be a factor for Red Bull, with the car notoriously unhappy when forced to bounce over the insides of corners.