Max Verstappen Assesses First Race Without Christian Horner and GP Lambiase

Red Bull Racing Formula One driver Max Verstappen has opened up on his first race weekend with new CEO and team principal Laurent Mekies after his Belgian Grand Prix sprint race victory. Verstappen also revealed his experience of working with interim race engineer Simon Rennie, since his full-time race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase (GP), was away for personal reasons.

The sprint race marked Verstappen and Red Bull’s first race without ousted team principal Christian Horner. Mekies replaced Horner after the British Grand Prix. Lambiase is absent for this weekend, and it is unclear if he will return for the following weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Rennie, who has been the race engineer for Daniel Ricciardo in the past and is Red Bull’s group leader of simulation engineering, will take over Lambiase’s duties in supporting Verstappen.

Speaking about the big change in the team’s leadership, the Dutchman was asked after the sprint race about the change he felt so far, and about his experience with Rennie. He told the media:

“I mean, it’s very difficult to, within two weeks, you know, suddenly say like, a lot of things need to change out of the blue. It’s about starting the relationship and just understanding how everyone is operating.

“And then at one point, you know, you come to conclusions and maybe you want to change something and this is something that will happen over the coming weeks, months.

“So it’s, it’s really early days, but so far, you know, he’s very keen and very motivated, and that’s exactly, I think, what you want also, and I got on very well with him, you know, so yeah, it’s been a very good start.”

Moving on to Rennie, the four-time champion continued said:

“And also with Simon, I mean, he has a lot of racing experience already and, of course, he’s been part of the team already for a very long time. Of course, the last few years not anymore in a race engineer role, but he steps in and he’s immediately on it. So also again, very enjoyable to work with Simon.”

Mekies is said to be starting a new era at Red Bull, considering the team was led by Horner for 20 years. Verstappen said that regardless of who leads the team, he will continue to give his best on the racetrack. He said:

“I mean, the team can always count on me — I will always give my very best, you know, whoever is in charge. And yeah, they know that I’m never holding back or anything.

“I’m always trying to give them the best possible result, and that’s also what they pay me for. And yeah, for sure, it’s positive. We need, of course, positive energy, and yeah, that’s a great start for us.”