Mekies reveals creative 'freedom' in RB project

RB team principal Laurent Mekies has explained the Faenza-based outfit has a "large level of freedom" in how it develops.

In an exclusive interview with RacingNews365, the 47-year-old details what the second Red Bull squad is doing to become more competitive, whilst revealing the extent of the autonomy it enjoys from its sister F1 team.

RB's rebrand at the start of the current season marked a new dawn for the former AlphaTauri/Toro Rosso operation.

Previously, it had worked under as a proving ground for upcoming Red Bull talent, akin to a junior programme.

In doing so, it helped develop and forge the paths of Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen, who went on to win multiple world championships with the 'main' team.

Part of signalling the end of that chapter in its history, and being reborn as its own operation, with its own agency was the hiring of Mekies as team principal and Peter Bayer as CEO.

"The beauty of this project is that we have a large level of freedom, so we decided to take that freedom," the Frenchman explains.

"We are doing a lot. We get a few things right, we get a lot of things wrong. We are changing a lot, we have to keep challenging ourselves. 

"We are trying to take it [the RB project] to the right place, we are trying to do it fast.

"Sometimes we fall, sometimes we get it wrong, but, for sure, it's a fast-responding, simple and lean environment, which is also what creates the extraordinary spirit we have in the team right now.

"We need to make sure we don't lose the focus about the mid-term, even though there will always be the pressure of immediate results.

RB struggled during the opening rounds of the season, with Daniel Ricciardo's P13 its best return from the first two races.

However, the team and Yuki Tsunoda came to life in Melbourne, finishing seventh and building the foundations of what has become a fight for sixth in the constructors' standings - de facto top of the second group in F1 currently.

With 34 points from the opening 14 rounds, it holds a seven-point advantage over Haas and with Ricciardo starting to find form, RB is well positioned to retain its position.

If it can, it will be the team's equal-best constructors' championship finish since Red Bull purchased Minardi and formed Toro Rosso in 2006.

"There is always these difficult moments but it's precisely in these moments that we need to stay true to ourselves and to keep our values," Mekies contends, highlighting the need to stay the course and continue on the project's current trajectory, despite any initial setbacks or disappointments.

"We are not going to hit the panic button of the first difficulties, and we are trying to be more hungry than anyone else in trying to fix what we have to fix.

"Building or evolving a company culture is not something you do in one day, and we are all pushing very hard to do it with our seasoned people.

"We are convinced that this is what will unlock more lap time, because the lap time is not with the chief of aerodynamics or with the technical director or with the racing directors or with the team principal or with whoever - it's not there.

"Lap time is with the 600 guys and girls... and this is why we are investing so much into our people."