JUST COMING: Red Bull appoints three employees, including a crucial ally in Max Verstappen, to succeed Jonathan Wheatley.
In reaction to multiple high-profile departures from their inner-success squad, Red Bull reorganized its race team structure for 2025.
Jonathan Wheatley, the longtime sporting director who helped Red Bull win seven Drivers’ Championships and six F1 Constructors’ crowns, was the most recent of them.
Being entrusted with comprehending the intricate technical and sporting norms and regulations makes his function one of the most significant inside a squad. Instead, Wheatley will be joining Sauber as the team principal, which will require Red Bull to reorganize its current organizational structure.
Alongside aerodynamicist Rob Marshall, who departed Red Bull to join McLaren, Wheatley was the most well-known departure from the squad this year, along with Adrian Newey.
While Newey is expected to join Aston Martin in March of last year, Marshall has already made an impact at McLaren. Autosport claims that Red Bull is changing a lot of the backroom staff in order to fill some of these positions.
Red Bull’s redesigned race team hierarchy includes Maxi Verstappen’s technical
Gianpiero Lambiase, Max Verstappen’s race engineer, is reportedly going to take on a more prominent role as the Dutchman’s “head of racing,” despite the fact that he will still be an engineer.
Prior approach The position of head of sporting regulations has been created and is being assumed by Stephen Knowles. He will serve as the team’s point of contact with the FIA and is responsible for making sure the team abides by all F1 rules and regulations.
Richard Wolverson, a senior engineer in automotive engineering, is moving up to become the Head of Racing Operations.
It’s noteworthy that Red Bull decided to promote from within rather than snatch players from other teams, which is a big shift as they prepare for the possible fallout from losing Wheatley amid a slump in performance.
Red Bull shifted its attention away from the Constructors’ Championship.
After Helmut Marko acknowledged that Red Bull has now written off their prospects of winning the Constructors’ title, the team’s main goal in the final seven races of the season will be to hold onto the Drivers’ Championship.
The team may be losing out on millions of dollars in prize money even though the Drivers title increases their marketing visibility.
Given how both of Ferrari’s drivers have been consistently outperforming Verstappen and Sergio Perez in recent races, Damon Hill thinks there’s a chance that Ferrari will overtake Red Bull in the championship fight.
Given that Perez was forced to withdraw from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on the penultimate lap, Red Bull is predicted to experience a “massive setback” in Singapore. It is unclear if this is anticipated to affect their ability to stay on course.