Liam Lawson has highlighted the crucial aspects of Laurent Mekies' work ethic that will benefit Red Bull following the Frenchman's recent appointment as team principal.
Red Bull stunned the F1 world when it opted to axe Christian Horner as team boss after 20 years in charge, a few days following the British Grand Prix.
After just 18 months as Racing Bulls team principal, but with considerable prior experience with Ferrari and the FIA, Mekies was immediately installed as Horner's replacement. F1 stalwart Alan Permane was charged with leading Racing Bulls.
For Lawson, it meant the departure of a man he had grown to know during his six-race stint with VCARB last year after replacing Daniel Ricciardo, and on his return to the team this season following an ill-fated two-race cameo with Red Bull.
Assessing whether Mekies' guidance will be missed in the long term, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365, Mekies said: "Having his presence has been very, very nice, but he's still well within the Red Bull family.
"For Alan, he's somebody who's obviously been in the team now for a couple of years, and somebody that I think is very well suited for the position, who has the relationships with everybody, and is very motivated as well to carry on Laurent's form, as such, with what he was doing."
Lawson dismissed the suggestion that Racing Bulls had 'lost' something with Mekies' exit, given Permane's overall knowledge and experience, but that Red Bull has certainly gained.
"Something that Laurent was very, very good at was leading the team and having everybody around him, and having the motivation and the work ethic very high in the team," the New Zealander added.
"He worked very, very hard. He's always here [in the F1 paddock] on a Thursday, every single race weekend. He's probably one of the first guys to arrive, and to show that to everybody in the team, it's very important."
Lawson has no doubt Mekies will succeed, in particular, providing "some consistency".
"I just know that he'll do a good job if he's trusted to do the job that he's very good at doing," said Lawson.
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