‘Max is a huge asset in and outside the car’: Laurent Mekies on taking over at Red Bull

Laurent Mekies replaced Christian Horner in July. ‘You never feel you made it, but you always feel privileged,’ Mekies says. Photograph: XPB Images Ltd/Alamy

Reaching the pinnacle of any sport might be considered a moment to savour and reflect. To luxuriate even, in the contentment so sparingly yielded at the highest level. None of which, strikingly, is the case for Laurent Mekies, the new team principal of Red Bull, who concedes only to an overwhelming, almost Sisyphean, commitment to moving ever forward, ever upward.

“There is no such thing as having made it, you always feel you are surviving,” he says. “You always feel that you should have done more yesterday, more a week ago. To step up next week, next month. You never feel you made it – never, never, never.”