Mekies tied to Red Bull until 2031 after Verstappen’s Asian double

Two races. Two wins. One new contract.

Red Bull have handed Laurent Mekies a deal to run the team until the end of 2031, and the timing tells you plenty. The announcement landed on Wednesday, three days after Max Verstappen won in Singapore and ten days after he won the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

The team confirmed the extension on X on Wednesday afternoon, framing the deal as part of a long-term platform for success.

According to GPFans, the agreement is a five-year extension. Mekies thanked Chalerm Yoovidhya, Mark Mateschitz and Oliver Mintzlaff for backing the project. He also singled out Pierre Waché's technical team and Ben Hodgkinson's powertrain team as central to the next phase. One line stood out: "we genuinely believe this is only the beginning."

Motorsport.com also ran the story.

Fifteen months, one big rebuild

Mekies took over from Christian Horner in July 2025. Horner had run Red Bull since the team's F1 entry in 2005, as RaceFans points out. Twenty years with one boss, then a sudden change in the middle of a season.

The early results were strong. Verstappen trailed by more than 100 points in 2025 and still finished two points short of the title, in one of the closest championship finishes in F1 history.

2026 was harder. Red Bull Ford Powertrains made a debut as an engine manufacturer, and Verstappen has since described the car as frightening to drive in the opening rounds.

By late August the picture looked bleak. Red Bull sat fourth, and Verstappen trailed Kimi Antonelli by 110 points after 11 rounds, Reuters reported. He already held a contract to 2028, with break clauses linked to performance. He signed on to the end of 2030 anyway, and backed Mekies' direction for the team.

Then October arrived.

• 4 October, Sepang: Verstappen won the relocated Bahrain Grand Prix by 2.307 seconds from Antonelli. The Bahrain race moved to Malaysia after the April date fell through because of the security situation in the Middle East. The result gave Red Bull Ford Powertrains a first win, and Verstappen called the moment "incredible".
• 11 October, Singapore: pole, sprint win and race win. Verstappen beat Charles Leclerc by 7.335 seconds for a first Singapore victory, on his 250th grand prix start.

Why tie Mekies down now?

I believe Red Bull wanted the leadership settled before a winter of staff changes.

Gianpiero Lambiase, Verstappen's race engineer throughout his Red Bull career, leaves for McLaren. Tom Hart steps in as Verstappen's race engineer from next season. Mekies personally struck a deal with Williams boss James Vowles to keep Hart, who had agreed to join Williams. Tom McCullough arrives from Aston Martin as head of racing.

So the plan looks like this:

• Verstappen under contract to 2030
• Mekies under contract to 2031
• A homegrown engine in year one, already winning races

A word of caution, though. Two wins do not make a title bid. Mercedes lead the constructors' standings on 578 points. Red Bull sit fourth on 332, seven behind McLaren. Antonelli leads the drivers on 340, with Verstappen fourth on 221, according to the latest standings. Six races remain.

Next stop: Austin, on 25 October. Red Bull arrive with momentum, a settled boss and five more seasons to prove Sepang and Singapore were no one-off.