Tom Clarkson

When Laurent Mechiers became Red Bull Racing team principal and CEO in 2025, he had a big decision to make.

Max Verstappen nearly completed one of the greatest comebacks of all time, missing out on the title by just two points.

but after a difficult start to the new era of Formula One, are Red Bull now paying the price for that incredible turnaround last year?

Hello and welcome to F1 Beyond the Grid with me, Tom Clarkson.

Loro Mequiez has had a whirlwind couple of years.

When we last spoke at the start of 2024, he'd just become a team principal for the first time with Racing Bulls.

But just a year and a half into that role, he was promoted to Red Bull Racing, who were having problems both on and off the track.

Laurent led their recovery at the end of 2025.

But in a new era of regulations, when Red Bull are making their own power units for the first time, they've slipped down the pecking order.

Laurent tells me in this conversation how big the move to Red Bull was for him personally, the reasons they didn't switch focus entirely to 2026 when he joined, and why he doesn't see this as a transitional period for the team, despite a lot of change.

Laurent also shares great insight into what Max Verstappen is like outside the car, in debriefs and at marketing events.

And with the Max to Mercedes rumours still lingering in the paddock, I had to ask him if he's worried about Max leaving at the end of the year.

We caught up just before the Japanese Grand Prix and Laurent was more candid than I've ever previously heard him.

How are you?

Lovely to see you again.

Very good to see you, Tom.

It's been a while.

Well, it's been two years, actually, since you were last on the pod.

And a lot has changed since then.

You were just starting out as team principal of Racing Bulls back then.