Martin Brundle reveals why Christian Horner 'wouldn't want to return as a team principal'

Former Formula 1 driver and Sky Sports F1 analyst Martin Brundle has discussed Laurent Mekies's approach to leading Red Bull Racing and why Christian Horner "wouldn't want to come back as a team principal".

The Milton Keynes outfit replaced Horner as Red Bull Racing CEO and team principal with Racing Bulls team chief Laurent Mekies on 9 July 2025. Horner later reached a settlement agreement with the Austrian team in September 2025, which is understood to allow the Briton to return to the championship in 2026.

Since Mekies arrived at the team, Red Bull has secured 174 points over eight rounds. In comparison, the team scored 172 points in 12 rounds prior to Horner's exit. While various factors need to be considered for the jump in performance, Brundle praised Mekies for his approach to the role. 

“Very impressed and he’s handling it in a very mature way,” Brundle said during the Sky Sports F1 Show. “Ego, absolutely non-existent. We’re seeing a new type of team principal these days, aren’t we? That’s why Christian wouldn’t want to come back as a team principal.

“I think with more of an engineering background, seems to be the way to tie together these vast quantities of highly specialised people in a team and he’s got help with the politics, with Helmut Marko and others.

Martin Brundle

Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images

“So I think it’ll be a collaboration on the [2026] driver choice, probably more so than in the past among the senior people in Red Bull, but I think he actually is the right man for the right time in Formula 1, and that’s the way it’s going.”

Multiple teams have gone down a similar route of hiring personnel with engineering backgrounds for the role. For example, Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu previously held the role of trackside engineering director at the American squad, Sauber team chief Jonathan Wheatley previously served as Red Bull sporting director and chief mechanic at Benetton and Renault, and Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane came from a background as sporting director, chief operating officer and chief race engineer at Alpine.