The direct, 'no BS' approach winning over Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo has praised Laurent Mekies following the Frenchman's start to life as the RB Team Principal.

Mekies took on the role after spending a handful of years at Ferrari as Sporting Director, after previously working for the FIA.

The 46-year-old succeeded Franz Tost who operated the Red Bull sister team - Toro Rosso and then AlphaTauri - for 17 years.

During his first months in charge, Mekies has had to face scrutiny from rival teams who have raised concerns over the closer collaboration with Red Bull.

Mekies has also been forced to deal with intra-team drama at the end of the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix when Yuki Tsunoda took issue with a team order.

When asked by RacingNews365 how Mekies has come across so far, Ricciardo said: “[It's] very good.

“I feel the start of this chapter for Laurent has been really good.

“I really like the way he's just been with us, open dialogue, but also just very inclusive with all members of the team.”

Ricciardo commends 'directness'

RB has endured a difficult opening two rounds to the campaign, failing to score points in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Ricciardo had a troubled outing in Jeddah last time out as he struggled for pace throughout the weekend before having a spin on the penultimate lap, which was born out of frustration.

Despite the lacklustre start to the year for the team, Ricciardo is taking confidence from Mekies' attitude towards leading the team.

“[He is] very open to constructive criticism, [there is] not much BS,” he said.

“Even I like to talk to sometimes, I might be dragging on a little bit and he's like, ‘Mate, just get to the point, what do you want to tell me? 'You don't have to be nice, just say it’.

“So even this directness, I like.”