BARRETTO: How Laurent Mekies has got RB firing on all cylinders in his first year as an F1 team boss

“Let’s build the best possible racing team and see where it takes us.” That was Team Principal Laurent Mekies’ ambition at the start of the season, just weeks into starting his new role – and after nine races in 2024, it would be fair to say RB have made better than expected progress towards that goal…

AlphaTauri, as they were then known, ended last season eighth in the constructors’ championship, having pushed development until the bitter end and brought a new floor to the finale in Abu Dhabi. It meant the Italian team were already resigned to paying the price for that late spending with a slow start to this campaign.