Laurent Mekies
Red Bull Salary
CEO and Team Principal
Laurent Mekies Net Worth and Salary at Red Bull
Our figure for Laurent Mekies’ base salary at Red Bull is £1.5m-4m ($2m-5.3m). The band is wide because the job covers the whole company as CEO as well as the race team, and he’s only held it since July 2025.
A bonus of £150k-1.2m ($199k-1.6m) would put his year at £1.65m-5.2m ($2.2m-6.9m). Front Office Sports had him on $1.1m in total compensation for 2024 to 2025, but that was Racing Bulls pay. Kursiv’s April 2026 list went far higher, at €7m ($8m).
Anonymous motorsport pay survey behind F1 Salaries' role bands and the 10% to 30% bonus range applied to Mekies.
Ranks team principals by total pay and has Mekies on $1.1m for 2024 to 2025, which was Racing Bulls money.
Puts Mekies' net worth at £1m in a 2025 roundup, without showing the assets behind the number.
April 2026 list that puts Mekies on €7m, ahead of Stella, with unclear definitions of what the figures include.
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What Mekies Runs as Red Bull CEO and Team Principal
As chief executive and team principal, Mekies is responsible for all of Red Bull Racing, so the sporting, technical and business sides of the team answer to him. He runs it for its owners and doesn’t hold a stake himself.
His route to the job ran through the rulebook as well as the pit wall. He was the FIA’s safety director and then deputy race director, became Ferrari’s racing director and spent 18 months in charge of Racing Bulls before replacing Christian Horner on July 9, 2025. Technical director Pierre Waché reports to him.
Formula 1's dated timeline of his jobs at Arrows, Minardi, Toro Rosso, the FIA, Ferrari and both Red Bull teams.
Formula 1's guide to the 2026 team bosses, confirming Mekies as Red Bull's CEO and team principal.
Mekies Against the Other Team Principals on Pay
Among F1 team principals, Mekies’ band sits below Mercedes’ Toto Wolff on £4m-7m ($5.3m-9.3m) and McLaren’s Andrea Stella on £3m-5m ($4m-6.6m). Kursiv’s April 2026 list flipped part of that order, with Mekies on €7m ($8m) and Stella on €6m ($6.8m).
Mekies' Career at Minardi, the FIA, Ferrari, and Red Bull
Mekies built his early career in Faenza, spent four years at the FIA and five at Ferrari, and has run two Red Bull-owned teams since January 2024.
Mekies and the Rest of Red Bull's Senior Staff
Mekies has the highest band on Red Bull‘s staff pages. Technical director Pierre Waché is next on £500k-2m ($663k-2.7m), then Gianpiero Lambiase on £350k-800k ($464k-1.1m). The team’s biggest earner is its lead driver, Max Verstappen, whose pay is in a different league from any staff member’s.
Laurent Mekies Salary and Career Questions
Laurent Mekies is paid a base salary of £1.5m-4m ($2m-5.3m) as Red Bull’s CEO and team principal, on F1 Salaries’ figures. A bonus could push his year to as much as £5.2m ($6.9m). The $1.1m still quoted for him comes from Front Office Sports’ 2024 to 2025 ranking, when he was running Racing Bulls.
Crash put Laurent Mekies’ net worth at £1m ($1.3m) in a 2025 roundup of team principals’ wealth, and other outlets have repeated it since. Nobody has shown the assets behind that number. He’s been a salaried engineer and executive his whole career, with no ownership stake in Red Bull, so it’s a rough guide at best.
Laurent Mekies’ role covers all of Red Bull Racing, because he’s the company’s CEO as well as its team principal. The sporting, technical and business departments report to him. He doesn’t own the team and he doesn’t engineer either car, although his own career began as an engineer at Arrows in 2001.
Arrows was Laurent Mekies’ first F1 team in 2001. After that came Minardi, Toro Rosso, the FIA, Ferrari, Racing Bulls and now Red Bull. Minardi, Toro Rosso, and Racing Bulls are the same Faenza team under different names, so his return there in January 2024 came after a decade away.
Red Bull hasn’t disclosed the length of Laurent Mekies’ contract. He started on July 9, 2025, and nothing confirms an end date, including the 2030 deal that has been claimed online. An unknown expiry doesn’t mean he’s close to leaving. It only means the terms are private.