Laurent Mekies on Time Pressure, Trust, and Verstappen's Contract Extension

It's a weekend heavy with symbolism when this conversation takes place: for the last time, the Circuit Zandvoort in the Netherlands opens its gates to Formula 1 — the dunes along the Dutch North Sea coast that, since 2021, have become a fixed stage for Max Verstappen and his sea of orange-clad fans are bowing out of the race calendar for good this year. It's hard to imagine a more fitting moment for a conversation about time, impermanence, and what endures. And the news that broke just beforehand couldn't have framed the farewell more perfectly: Max Verstappen has extended his contract with Oracle Red Bull Racing for four more years. For the fans in Zandvoort, who get to cheer on their hero one last time on home soil this year, it's the sweetest encore they could have asked for. Ahead of this historic race weekend, we sat down exclusively with Laurent Mekies — the CEO and Team Principal of Oracle Red Bull Racing — at TAG Heuer's "The Final Lap" event to talk passion, responsibility, the nature of time, and why motorsport and mechanical watchmaking are two worlds bound as closely as any pairing in existence.

Laurent Mekies: An Exclusive Interview with the Oracle Red Bull Racing CEO 

WatchTime: You've been in Formula 1 for more than two decades now, and you once called the spot on the pit wall "the best seat in the house." Does that feeling still hold true for you? 

Laurent Mekies: It does — every single day. When you drive to the track. When you make your way to the factory in the morning. It shows just how passionate we all are: at heart, we're kids lucky enough to be having fun — who happen to take some things a little too seriously along the way. But we're fiercely competitive people. So yes, I feel it every time, every Thursday. I can't wait to see the car run over the weekend. And the moment it does, I can't wait to be back on the pit wall. 

You started out as an engineer, and today you carry ultimate responsibility for around 2,000 employees. What was the biggest personal adjustment for you? 

I think, in the end, it doesn't really matter what role you hold within the organization. What unites us is passion and competitive drive. Whether you're an engineer or a mechanic, a communications specialist or someone in marketing — at our core, we're all competitors. We hate losing. And to get more directly at your question: in the end, it comes down to people. You have to bring them along with you, get them working together. If you succeed in attracting and keeping the best talent, you win. If you don't, you don't win either. 

Which is harder — making a Formula 1 car faster, or shaping 2,000 highly talented people into one team? 

A Formula 1 car will never be fast if the people behind it aren't working together. Do you believe the best drivers are, in some sense, engineers themselves? That's actually a very good question — and the answer is: yes, absolutely. The complexity of this sport is so immense, and the level of the athletes so high, that you're consistently amazed by how deep their understanding of vehicle dynamics runs. So at the core of it: yes.

Your entire life is structured around time: lap times, reaction times, pit stop times, deadlines, travel schedules. Has working in Formula 1 changed your personal relationship to time — this relentless chase after milliseconds? 

Absolutely, and it still holds true today. It's not just milliseconds we're chasing — it's an obsession, a beautiful obsession, but an obsession nonetheless. We're also used to operating under extreme conditions. A race starts at 2 p.m. — there's no room for a minute, not even a second of delay. Every qualifying session runs exactly one hour. We have a little joke internally: when we ask the team to change something at the very last minute, under enormous time pressure, and someone says, "There's no time for that" — I tell them, look, Q1 lasts 18 minutes. You'd be amazed how much we can change in those 18 minutes alone. We adjust the plan, we reassess — Q1 can feel like it lasts two hours. So time is deeply woven into who we are, and in a way, into TAG Heuer as well. Putting on that watch every morning — and this goes for me as much as for every team member who's ever stood on a grid — feels like strapping on a kind of magic shield that carries you through the day.

Formula 1 has always maintained a particularly close relationship with mechanical watches. Why do you think these two worlds fit together so naturally? 

It's the obsession with peak performance. It's the extreme attention to detail. And it's the refusal to settle for the status quo. In Formula 1, if you stop evolving, you slide from first to last without even noticing. And you understand the same instinct when you see just how much genuine research and development goes into a company like TAG Heuer — that same drive to never stand still, always chasing the next great innovation. 

Is there a particular TAG Heuer model that speaks to you personally? 

Naturally, it's the one I'm wearing right now: the Monaco. You grow up with those images of Steve McQueen, and I also grew up with that wonderful phrase paired with Ayrton Senna — "Don't crack under pressure." That resonates with me deeply, and it captures exactly that sense of resilience we absolutely need in motorsport. At the same time, it conveys that same sense of self-mastery we need just as much. So yes — for many reasons, this watch means a great deal to me.

There was also good news just recently: Max Verstappen has extended his contract, right before the Dutch Grand Prix — which the Dutch fans will no doubt be especially thrilled about. What does it feel like, after all the rumors, to finally be able to say: we have four more years? 

That's phenomenal news — for our team, but also for Formula 1 as a whole, and for the sport more broadly. Being able to bind the fastest driver in the world to your team for such a long stretch of time is something special: time, as a currency, is the same for everyone — we all have, more or less, the same number of years to spend. And when someone at this stage of his career chooses to invest the time ahead — a decisive time for him, maybe the last great chapter, maybe not — into this team, that's an extraordinary vote of confidence: in the team, in the people within it, and in what unites us — that shared passion and determination to start winning again soon. We take that very seriously. With that great trust comes a great responsibility on our part — to deliver the package that matches it. That's where the real significance of this contract extension lies: the best driver in the world choosing, once again, to commit himself to this team. That says a great deal about the potential he sees in us — and just how much we now have to live up to it.