Red Bull Racing are known for being ruthless with drivers, but it's been a while since the Formula 1 team axed a team principal.
That changed in early July, when Red Bull parted ways with Christian Horner after a 20-year stint in the top job.
Laurent Mekies has since been drafted in as the F1 outfit's new team principal and CEO.
Here's what you need to know about the Frenchman.
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Laurent Mekies age
Mekies was born on April 28, 1977.
He is 48 years old.
Laurent Mekies nationality, birthplace
Mekies was born in Tours, France.
The Frenchman studied mechanical engineering at the prestigious engineering school ESTACA in Paris.
He then moved to the United Kingdom to complete a master's degree in automotive engineering at Loughborough University.
Laurent Mekies career, previous roles
Mekies secured his first motorsport job in 2000 when he joined Formula 3 outfit Asiatech as an engineer.
The following year, he made the leap to Formula 1 with Arrows.
In 2003, he moved to Minardi, where he worked as the race engineer for the likes of Mark Webber and Zsolt Baumgartner.
Minardi was then acquired by Red Bull and renamed Scuderia Toro Rosso before Mekies was promoted to be the team's chief engineer.
After almost a decade in that role, the Frenchman joined the sport's governing body – the FIA – as safety director in 2014.
He was appointed F1 deputy race director in 2017.
A move to Ferrari came in 2018, where he became their sporting director. This was followed by an appointment as the Italian team's racing director.
Mekies made the step up to team principal when he joined RB – and returned to the Red Bull family – at the start of the 2024 campaign.
He replaced Horner as the Red Bull team principal and CEO in July.
Why did Red Bull sack Christian Horner?
It's not entirely clear why Red Bull parted ways with Horner.
The decision to change their team principal mid-way through a season suggests that multiple factors were at play, however.
"The heart of the team, [Max] Verstappen, has more than tinkered with the idea of leaving," Sporting News' Ben McCarthy wrote following the move.
"The development path is not yielding improvement, and faith has been lost across various factions of the board.
"A recent change in ownership structure has been made, and the team's second-seat situation has been a mess."
Horner's dismissal came one year after an internal investigation into sexual misconduct allegations from a former Red Bull Racing employee.
Two separate investigations dismissed the allegations, which Horner has always denied.