Red Bull appoints Tom Hart as Verstappen's race engineer and hires Mercedes junior chief Gwen Lagrue

Red Bull Racing announced that long‑time performance engineer Tom Hart will become Max Verstappen’s race engineer, replacing Gianpiero “GP” Lambiase. Lambiase is set to leave Red Bull for McLaren, taking a Chief Racing Officer role no later than 2028 after a period of gardening leave. Hart, who had a pending move to Williams, will stay at Red Bull after team boss Laurent Mekies reached an agreement with Williams’ James Vowles to release him.

In parallel, Red Bull is in advanced talks to bring Gwen Lagrue, Mercedes’ head of the junior driver programme, to head Red Bull’s own driver‑development operation after Helmut Marko’s retirement. Lagrue is credited with developing talents such as Kimi Antonelli and George Russell during his decade at Mercedes. Both appointments are aimed at shoring up Red Bull’s technical and talent pipeline amid recent staff departures.