Wanted: New Red Bull strategy chief ahead of latest key departure
Max Verstappen (Red Bull RB21) kicks up a shower of sparks at the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix
Red Bull Racing is looking to hire a new senior strategy engineer as the team prepares to bid farewell to McLaren-bound Will Courtenay in F1 2026.
McLaren announced the signing of Courtenay, Red Bull’s long-serving head of strategy, in the aftermath of last year’s Singapore Grand Prix.
Red Bull searching for new strategy chief ahead of Will Courtenay’s move to McLaren
Courtenay, who joined Red Bull ahead of the team’s first season in 2005, is to link up with McLaren in the role of sporting director, reporting to racing director Randeep Singh.
As reported by PlanetF1.com, it emerged in January that McLaren’s attempts to secure an early release for Courtenay had been resisted by Red Bull.
McLaren had reportedly hoped that Courtenay would start work with the team as soon as this year. However, Red Bull showed little interest in striking a deal to release the engineer with Courtenay spending the entire F1 2025 season with his current employer.
Courtenay is expected to complete his move to McLaren in the middle of 2026 at the latest.
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Ahead of his exit, it has emerged that Red Bull is seeking to recruit a new senior strategy engineer with the team inviting applications for the role.
The job advert has been shared online by Hannah Schmitz, Red Bull’s principal strategy engineer, who is expected to inherit Courtenay’s responsibilities on a full-time basis when his move to McLaren goes through.
Schmitz wrote: “We are hiring. Looking for someone with experience to join our strategy team and alternate the travelling role.”
The job advert reads: “We have an exciting and rare opportunity for a Senior Strategy Engineer to be a part of our highly skilled Race Strategy department, working with our talented race team to ensure success, winning Formula 1 races and championships.
“You will be managing real-time strategy across the race weekend, both trackside on the pitwall and from the operations room at our technology campus in Milton Keynes.
“You will work closely with the Head of Race Strategy developing the capabilities and efficiency of the department.
“You will be an integral part of the team, liaising with other groups on cross-department development projects, as well as designing and continued development of a wide variety of software, analysis and infrastructure tools.”
Requirements for the role include previous experience in a similar role in motorsport, preferably in a trackside position with a ‘good level’ of responsibility.
A degree-level education is preferred, as is an ability to write software.
Good time management, communication and interpersonal skills, as well as an ability to manage junior engineers and interact with senior engineers and team management, are also desired.
Red Bull is also looking for the successful candidate to travel to up to half of the races making up an F1 season and supporting others from the team’s operations room.
Interested candidates have until the end of this month to apply for the role.
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Speaking after Courtenay’s departure was announced last year, Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko indicated that Schmitz, who first joined Red Bull as a modelling and simulation engineer in 2009 after graduating from the University of Cambridge, will effectively be Courtenay’s successor.
He said: “It’s a natural development, when you’re successful, that people are poached.
“There is someone with us who can take over this position and that is Hannah Schmitz.
“What we offered Will Courtenay did not interest him. And he had an offer for this position [at McLaren], something that is also more financially attractive.”
In a statement issued to PlanetF1.com following the signing of Courtenay, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said: “We are delighted to welcome Will to McLaren.
“His experience, professionalism and passion for motorsport make him the ideal candidate to lead our F1 sporting function.
“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.”
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