Nico Rosberg warns of Red Bull exodus as he outlines Laurent Mekies' "first job"

Nico Rosberg has urged new Red Bull Racing CEO and team principal Laurent Mekies to quickly assert his leadership to stabilise the team

Former Formula 1 driver Nico Rosberg has claimed that Laurent Mekies needs "to establish himself quickly" in his new role as Red Bull Racing CEO and team principal to "make sure all the other key people now stay and don't continue going to other teams".

Mekies replaced Christian Horner on 9 July 2025. Although the reason for Horner's exit after a 20-year stint with the team has not been confirmed specifically, it is thought that the decline in performance and departures of key personnel, including Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley, were contributing factors.

"It was important to make that decision as quickly as possible for Red Bull, and they pulled the trigger, which was a shock to all of us, and now is the moment for them to rebuild," Rosberg explained to Sky Sports F1 ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix.

"Laurent now has to establish himself quickly and make sure all the other key people now stay and don't continue going to the other teams.

"That's the first job that he's going to have to focus on, and then rebuilding and bringing extra key people in or bringing up the young generation from the second row and promoting them from within.

"That's going to be the key to then preserving their role of being one of the fastest teams at the moment in F1."

Sky Sports presenter Naomi Schiff followed on from Rosberg's comments, explaining that the Milton Keynes outfit needs to focus on "redefining the image that they have".

Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing Team

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

"At the moment for this team, it's about redefining the image that they have. I mean they came into the sport as a really exciting, fun, sort of misfitting team, and at the end of the day, let's not forget that whilst Red Bull Racing is a very successful team, the Red Bull business is at the core of it, and this is their biggest marketing activity," she explained.

"Formula 1 is their biggest marketing activity. Performance is important. They clearly are there and thereabouts. Max [Verstappen] every now and again pulls out a great performance like he did yesterday, which hides away some of the struggles they're having, but they have clearly gone backwards. Other teams have gone forwards.

"The teammates, whether it's Yuki [Tsunoda], whether it's Liam [Lawson], whether it's Sergio [Perez], whoever you put in it is really struggling. I think the team as a whole needs to rebuild, needs to reframe their image and get to a better place that makes it an attractive place for people to work and one that everyone wants to cheer for."