Head of Strategy Will Courtenay is leaving Red Bull earlier than planned and started his new role as sporting director at McLaren at the turn of the year.
Red Bull has to cope with the loss of another high-ranking employee: Strategy chief Will Courtenay, who had already announced his move in the 2024 season, is now leaving the team earlier than expected and will take up his new position as sporting director at McLaren this season.
However, the Briton’s departure comes as no surprise, as it had been planned for a long time. Unlike Jonathan Wheatley, who was allowed to move to Sauber earlier, Courtenay was unable to terminate his contract with the Bulls prematurely, at least not last year. Nevertheless, the move is now taking place earlier than planned.
The Brit was actually supposed to spend the rest of his contract, which ran until mid-2026, on “gardening leave.” On Sunday, however, Courtenay announced on his LinkedIn profile that he has already started working at McLaren. “After 22 years at Red Bull Racing, the last 15 of which as Head of Race Strategy, I am delighted to announce that I am now taking on a new challenge and joining the McLaren Racing Formula 1 team as Sporting Director,” Courtenay writes.
Will Courtenay spent 22 years at Red Bull
He continued: “I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone at Red Bull with whom I have worked. I have made so many great friends there and hope to continue to see many of you in the paddock. It has been an incredible two and a half decades.”
“Now I’m looking forward to settling into my new role and new team, and hopefully making lots of new friends as I do my best to support McLaren in its recent success in the coming years.”
Courtenay continues a wave of departures from Red Bull, which in the past twelve months has also included technical genius Adrian Newey, former team boss Christian Horner, Helmut Marko, and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley. The Bulls are undergoing a generational change and are planning further restructuring within the team.
Gianpiero Lambiase is expected to take on more senior roles in the 2026 season, as Red Bull is primarily planning internal promotions. However, it is also known that Williams and Aston Martin are interested in the successful Verstappen engineer. So Courtenay may not have been the last departure…
