Red Bull Racing is bracing for significant shifts within its team, as Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey and Sporting Director Jonathan Wheatley prepare to leave their roles. Newey, who has been with the team since 2006, will depart early next year, while Wheatley will transition to become Audi’s Team Principal.
Additionally, from the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort onward, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez will receive a new Race Engineer, with his current engineer Hugh Bird taking paternity leave. Simon Wood, who has 11 years of experience at Red Bull, will temporarily step into Bird’s role, while Richard Cooke, the Simulator Performance Engineer, will fill in for Wood.
Despite these upcoming changes, Red Bull’s Technical Director Pierre Waché expressed confidence in the team’s ability to adapt. “If we are not satisfied with something, of course, we try to change it or compensate for it,” Waché explained.
He emphasized the importance of teamwork, stating, “Speaking for myself, I am not perfect in my role, just as no one is perfect in life. And you should certainly never think you are perfect.”
Photo Credit: Red Bull Content Pool
Waché highlighted the strength of Red Bull’s staff, noting how each member’s abilities complement the others.
“You have to gather people around you to compensate for your own weaknesses, that’s how it should be. I hope and I see that all the people below me are better than myself in certain things, to compensate for what I can’t do.”
He further added, “We are a group, and in that, it is not that some are weaker than others. No, everyone has strengths, and bringing them together is the most important thing. There is no such thing as a group in which one individual does everything. What matters is how all those individuals work together.”
Red Bull remains focused on improving its performance, particularly with an upcoming upgrade to their wind tunnel.
“It’s true that you always run into a limitation in everything you do,” Waché noted. “What we have created comes through the people and so, in a sense, you are always your own ceiling. We work every day to raise that ceiling. If you use the tools in the right way, then at some point those tools become your ceiling.”
He further emphasized that, “Although in some respects we may be the best compared to others, we still need to improve other aspects. The wind tunnel is one of those things. That’s why we are starting to develop a new wind tunnel for the next few years.”
“The company is giving us that opportunity by providing money, and we are very grateful for that. That’s an investment in our performance in the future.” concluded the director.
