New Red Bull boss handed 'underdog' verdict in Yuki Tsunoda boost

Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer believes new Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has "underdog mentality", which he expects to help Yuki Tsunoda. 

The Belgian Grand Prix marked the Milton Keynes-based outfit's first under Mekies' leadership, following the shock departure of long-time boss Christian Horner.

Mekies has been handed a direct promotion from Racing Bulls after 18 months leading the sister team and worked with Tsunoda throughout the 2024 campaign. 

The Frenchman managed to get consistent performances out of the Japanese driver, something he failed to replicate in his first 10 grands prix for Red Bull.

Despite a better showing at Spa-Francorchamps, particularly in qualifying where he went seventh-fastest, Tsunoda has scored just seven points since replacing Liam Lawson, with understanding why he is struggling so much backed as Mekies' immediate task.

"I think that's probably the best use of him in the immediacy is to work out where [Tsunoda is struggling]," Palmer said on the F1 Nation podcast. 

"Because if you've got two cars that are the same, you have to understand why one driver is so good and the other one isn't. And even Red Bull as a team are scratching their heads, thinking, how can no one get near Max? 

"So, when you've got now a team principal that you know hasn't worked with Max in this capacity, as Christian had sort of developed Max into the champion that he is coming through with Red Bull, and they won their titles together. 

"Laurent has actually come from working with Yuki Tsunoda and with Liam Lawson in the past, and that was his first foray into being a team principal. So he's kind of the underdog mentality."

'Arm around Tsunoda'

Continued strong results from Max Verstappen can be expected despite the leadership change, with it not being something expected to disrupt the four-time world champion. 

Given Mekies' past experience working with Tsunoda, the pressure on the 25-year-old will likely increase should his results not improve under his former boss' guidance.

Palmer suspects Mekies will immediately speak to Tsunoda to discover what has been troubling him, in what has been a "head scratcher" for Red Bull.

Palmer continued: "So I think he's going to be definitely [putting an] arm around Yuki and thinking, 'Come on, you were great when you drove with me. You were qualifying up in the front three rows, what is going on here?' 

"And trying to understand the second driver role a bit more, which I think will be helpful, whether or not he'll be able to actually find the performance there is obviously the bigger head scratcher for the team."