Crucial Christian Horner difference highlighted in new Red Bull boss

Long-time Red Bull driver Sebastien Buemi has highlighted a crucial difference between Christian Horner and Laurent Mekies. 

It was announced on Wednesday morning that Horner and Red Bull had parted ways after more than 20 years together, with Mekies having received a promotion from Racing Bulls. 

Mekies has taken Horner's former position of being the Austrian outfit's team principal and CEO, just two years on from being handed his first team boss role at Racing Bulls. 

The Frenchman has made huge strides in leadership positions since rejoining the Red Bull family from Ferrari, with Buemi being an admirer of him. 

Buemi worked with Mekies during his time racing for Toro Rosso between 2009-2011.

"Yeah, at Toro Rosso he was the chief race engineer," Buemi told RacingNews365 during an interview. "So I know, I know him quite well. I think he's a good guy. He's been in the Red Bull family for a long time. 

"Because before he went to the FIA and Ferrari he was at Toro Rosso for a long time. Now, he's obviously back. He was obviously back as a team principal of Racing Bulls. So he knows the Red Bull world."

As outlined by Buemi, Mekies comes from an engineering background, whilst Horner was best suited to dealing with political matters. 

The Briton grew the Milton Keynes-based team in rapid fashion, although the size of the squad is something Buemi does not expect Mekies is unaware of.

Discussing the differences between Mekies and Horner, Buemi explained: "He's [Mekies] obviously an engineer, so he knows technically for sure a lot. But obviously, Christian's been politically very strong, and he's been growing the team for a long time. 

"I don't know how many people were working for Red Bull when he joined, and how many there is now, like, over 1500. I don't know how many actually. 

"He's seen the expansion of the team. Laurent knows it as well. He's been at Ferrari, it's a big team."