New Red Bull CEO full of praise for Verstappen: 'He makes children dream'

Laurent Mekies was appointed as the new team principal and CEO of Red Bull following the British GP. In his new role, he works closely with four-time world champion Max Verstappen. The Frenchman believes people still underestimate the impact of the Dutch driver, as he shared in the latest episode of Behind The Charge on the Red Bull Racing YouTube channel.

Mekies said: “I think we underestimate the effect Max had and has on the whole single-seaters pyramid. The way he look at Formula 1, to love the sport at 360 degrees, in the car and outside the car. And that's what lots of kids out there fundamentally feel like they dream about racing cars day and night.''

Max Verstappen

Mekies: 'Verstappen's impact is underestimated'

“Max shows them that, how to actually get to be the best of them. I think we will probably need years, and maybe even more, to understand how much of an imprinting he gave,” Mekies concluded.

Previously, Verstappen worked with Christian Horner. That came to an end, after Red Bull Racing decided to fire the Brit. Mekies was almost immediately announced as Horner's replacement.

So far, Verstappen is positive about the influence Mekies has on Red Bull Racing. He told, among others, GPblog: "He's very open-minded. It will only get better and better, the communication that we have, but it's been going really well.''

Mekies faces a challenging task at Red Bull Racing. Over the past year and a half, the team has lost ground to its rivals. McLaren has emerged as the dominant force, with Mercedes and Ferrari also ahead of Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship. It’s now up to the Frenchman to get the team back in contention for world titles.

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