Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle has revealed that former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner reached out to him with a personal message in the wake of Max Verstappen’s dominant win in the Italian Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, Horner’s successor, Laurent Mekies, explained how the turnaround was forged by resilience, risk-taking, and hard work back at the team’s Milton Keynes base.
During last Sunday’s Sky Sports F1 broadcast, Brundle disclosed a personal message he received from Horner, who led Red Bull for two decades before his departure from the team and his replacement by Mekies, who moved over from sister outfit Racing Bulls.
The text highlighted the significance of Verstappen’s Monza win – his first since Horner’s exit, especially in light of Red Bull’s struggles at the same circuit a year prior, a fact not lost on the former team boss.
“A message from Christian Horner here actually,” Brundle said during the Sky Sports F1 broadcast, “saying, ‘This was our worst race last year. We had the wrong downforce level,’ and how hard the team have worked on that package and done a great job. Of course, they’ve turned it around.”
It was a nod to continuity in effort – even as leadership has changed.
Mekies on Repaying the Team
For Laurent Mekies, the Monza success was about far more than points and podiums. It was, as he put it, a thank-you to the staff who weathered a bruising start to the season.
“You know, in this sort of moment you think to the team back in Milton Keynes, the tough start of the season,” Mekies told reporters after the race.
“When things are not working the way you would like them to work, when you are missing that ultimate pace, you question everything.
©RedBull
“That’s the way we are, that’s the way the competition is. You question everything and what is great in the team is that they kept an open mind.
“They did question everything in a very constructive way. And it’s a lot of hard work and you don’t always get the positive feedback from the tracks as what we got today.
“So the thoughts are very much with everyone in Milton Keynes that have been pushing so hard not to give up.”
Mekies concluded that Verstappen’s victory was “very much giving them back the credit of many weeks, many months of hard work in the dark.”
Learning From the Lows
The result was all the more remarkable given how bleak things looked after Hungary, where Verstappen could manage no better than seventh. The Dutchman himself had doubted whether the RB21 would win again this season.
Mekies admitted that Hungary’s struggles were the result of deliberate gambles, and that those tough lessons ultimately paved the way for Monza.
“We take risks to get to the maximum understanding possible of what has limited the project this year,” Mekies said.
“And we took risks in Budapest, and it was an extremely poor weekend. Hence, Max comments, fair enough, because we put our drivers in difficult situations.
“But we do that to learn. We are getting some payback today. Again, we know how specific the track layout is here. So it’s good learning.
“The extent of the learning, we will see where it takes us in the next few races.”
For Red Bull, Monza was proof that the hard questions, painful weekends, and behind-the-scenes sacrifices can still deliver rewards.
Whether it marks the start of a sustained fightback remains to be seen. But as Brundle’s revelation showed, even from the outside looking in, Christian Horner recognized just how significant this turnaround was.
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via X and Facebook
