Red Bull has announced a new structure in its race team: Liam Lawson is getting a new race engineer, and Jonathan Wheatley will not be replaced 1:1
Red Bull has restructured its racing team ahead of the new Formula 1 season, including appointing a new race engineer for Sergio Perez successor Liam Lawson. The bulls are thus reacting, among other things, to personnel changes such as the departure of sports director Jonathan Wheatley, who will join the Sauber team as the new team manager of Audi.
Wheatley will start in Hinwil as early as April 1 – and thus earlier than planned – and has already left Red Bull. He is currently on contract leave and will no longer be in the command post. Red Bull will not fill his position 1:1, but will distribute his tasks among several people within the team.
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen’s new teammate Liam Lawson is getting a new race engineer. The New Zealander will work with Richard Wood, who was previously the performance engineer of predecessor Sergio Perez and is now being promoted.
He had already completed a few Grands Prix as the Mexican’s race engineer in 2024 when Perez’ regular race engineer Hugh Bird was on parental leave.
Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, meanwhile, will be getting a few new responsibilities in 2025. As “Head of Racing”, he will continue to be the voice in the four-time world champion’s ear, but he will also be given a few additional responsibilities that will involve the entire team.
Lambiase will be responsible for the daily race operations, but will also take care of some strategic matters.
Speaking of strategy: Will Courtenay will still be at the Red Bull command post in 2025. Although the chief strategist will leave the team for McLaren in 2026, unlike Wheatley, the team will not release him earlier.
Another part of Wheatley’s role will be taken over by Steve Knowles. He is the new sporting director in the new structure and will, among other things, take over communication with race control.
Despite Lambiase’s promotion, the engineering team around Verstappen remains intact. This also applies to Michael Manning, who has indicated internally that he is seeking a different position. Manning plays an important role in Verstappen’s starts, which have become increasingly complex in modern Formula One.
However, Red Bull confirms that Manning will finish the 2025 season in his current role and will not join another team.