McLaren hires Red Bull’s head of race strategy to be its new sporting director · RaceFans

Red Bull has lost another senior staff member to a rival team.

Its head of race strategy, Will Courtenay, is leaving the team to join McLaren. Courtenay, who has spent 20 years with Red Bull, will take up the role of sporting director at McLaren, reporting to racing director Randeep Singh.

“His experience, professionalism and passion for motorsport make him the ideal candidate to lead our F1 sporting function,” said team principal Andrea Stella. “We are now entering a key phase in our journey as a team, and we are confident that he will be a great addition to our strong leadership team as we strive to continue challenging for wins and championships.”

McLaren has emerged as the strongest threat to Red Bull this year. It scored its fifth win of the season on Sunday and overtook Red Bull at the top of the constructors’ championship standings in the previous round.

Courtenay is the latest in a series of senior Red Bull staff to leave the team since the beginning of last season. McLaren hired Rob Marshall as its technical director for engineering last year.

Red Bull suffered a blow earlier this year when their long-serving chief technical officer Adrian Newey, widely regarded as the sport’s foremost designer, announced his departure. Newey has since confirmed he will join Aston Martin.

The world champions will also lose their sporting director, Jonathan Wheatley, at the end of the year. Wheatley will become team principal at Sauber, which will be rebranded as Audi’s works team in 2026.

McLaren are enjoying their most successful season in 12 years. Lando Norris’ victory in Singapore last week has given them a 41-point lead in the constructors’ championship while he lies 52 points behind Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship standings.

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