Red Bull reshuffles technical leadership, hires from Racing Bulls

Red Bull has announced a significant reshuffle of its technical department, promoting Ben Waterhouse to a new, expanded role and hiring Andrea Landi from its sister team, Racing Bulls. The moves are designed to "reinforce its focus on performance and innovation" as the reigning Constructors' Champions navigate a difficult start to the 2026 season, currently sitting sixth in the standings.

Why it matters:

This internal restructuring comes at a critical time for Red Bull, which has fallen 119 points behind early leaders Mercedes after just three races. Following a period of significant talent drain to rival teams—most recently the loss of Max Verstappen's race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, to McLaren—these appointments signal a strategic effort to stabilize and strengthen the team's technical core from within and across its sister organization.

The details:

• Ben Waterhouse's Promotion: The long-serving head of performance engineering, with the team since 2017, has been appointed Chief Performance and Design Engineer. He will now report directly to Technical Director Pierre Wache.
• Expanded Responsibilities: Waterhouse's new role gives him responsibility across both design and vehicle performance, which the team states will "strengthen integration" and speed up the development of competitive solutions.
• New Hire from Racing Bulls: Andrea Landi, currently the Deputy Technical Director at Racing Bulls and a former Ferrari performance engineer, will join Red Bull on July 1 as Head of Performance. He will report to Waterhouse.
• Strategic Intent: Red Bull emphasized that the changes support its "long-term technical ambitions" and reflect a dual strategy of developing internal talent while attracting leading expertise from across the sport.

What's next:

The immediate focus will be on improving the car's performance ahead of the upcoming Miami Grand Prix, which is also a Sprint weekend. The success of this new technical leadership structure will be judged by its ability to reverse Red Bull's early-season slump and close the substantial gap to the front of the grid. The team hopes the enhanced integration between design and performance departments will yield faster, more effective car developments throughout the season.