Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull received a last-minute upgrade before qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix. The Japanese driver claimed seventh place on the grid, three-tenths of a second behind Max Verstappen, with Tsunoda taking his best grid position of his Red Bull tenure so far.

French engineer Mekies, previously team principal at Red Bull ’s sister F1 team Racing Bulls, has taken over from Horner and is at the helm this weekend for the Belgian Grand Prix. Mekies previously enjoyed a near-decade stint at Toro Rosso, the old name for Red Bull’s sister team, and also has experience to his name at Ferrari and the FIA.

New Red Bull Formula One team boss Laurent Mekies praised predecessor Christian Horner on Friday and revealed the Briton had been supportive and kept in touch since his sudden sacking two weeks ago.

Laurent Mekies has admitted he initially hung up the phone after Red Bull offered him the chance to takeover as team principal.

The Belgian Grand Prix is the first Formula 1 race since the end of the 2004 season that has not been attended by Christian Horner who was axed as Red Bull boss last week

After more than twenty years at the helm of Red Bull Racing, Christian Horner had a wealth of experience. His successor Laurent Mekies does not have that as a team boss, but the Austrian team of Max Verstappen is in good hands - at least that's what the new team boss of Racing Bulls thinks.

Laurent Mekies didn't get long to settle in as Red Bull team principal on his first Formula 1 race weekend leading his new team