Pit Debrief can confirm that Richard Wood is stepping up to the role as race engineer for Red Bull Racing F1 in 2025, and he will work with new signing Liam Lawson. It was first reported by De Telegraaf.
The Scot has been with Red Bull since 2013. He started out working on the strategy side of things. Wood became a race support engineer, before he moved up to be Sergio Pérez’s performance engineer when the Mexican joined the team.
Even before becoming a full-time race engineer at Red Bull Racing F1 this year to work with Liam Lawson, Wood did a few races in that role in 2024. Hugh Bird was away on maternity leave. Despite a very strong weekend in Baku, Pérez’s struggles continued generally even under Wood.
Wood and Bird worked closely with the 35-year-old Mexican driver throughout his four seasons at Red Bull Racing. Pérez took five wins during his time at the Milton Keynes-based squad, and he finished P2 in the Drivers’ Championship back in 2023.
Although he finished 2nd two years ago, he finished a stunning 290 points behind teammate Max Verstappen. The warning signs of 2023 played out in 2024 as the others improved.
After four podiums in the first five rounds, Pérez plummeted from P2 to P8 in the Drivers’ Championship. By the time the chequered flag fell in Abu Dhabi, he finished 285 points adrift of his Dutch stablemate. Ten wins to zero was an equally brutal stat.
With Hugh Bird taking a factory-based role, it means Liam Lawson will be working with Richard Wood at Red Bull Racing F1 when testing kicks off in Bahrain later this month.
Lots of changes in recent years
Since Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull Racing at the end of the 2018 season, there has been plenty of driver and race engineer changes on that side of the garage. First it was Pierre Gasly, then Alex Albon, then Sergio Pérez, and now Liam Lawson. On the race engineer side, it has been Mike Lugg, Simon Rennie, Hugh Bird, and now Richard Wood.
It remains to be seen if Richard Wood can help Liam Lawson challenge Max Verstappen as the Dutchman goes for a fifth straight Drivers’ Championship with Red Bull Racing F1 in 2025.
