Red Bull strategy chief Courtenay to join McLaren

Will Courtenay joined Red Bull at the end of 2003, when the team was called Jaguar Racing

Red Bull head of race strategy Will Courtenay has decided to leave the team after 14 years in the role and join McLaren as sporting director.

The move makes Courtenay the third member of Red Bull senior management to leave the team in the past five months, and is the latest development in an ongoing restructure at McLaren.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said: “Will’s experience, professionalism and passion for motorsport make him the ideal candidate to lead our 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.”

Courtenay will report to racing director Randeep Singh, with the aim of “helping grow the team’s sporting operations”, said McLaren.

Red Bull declined to comment officially on the move, but a source at the team said: “After a long and successful service, being with the team since the Jaguar days, we are sad to see Will go but wish him all the best in this step up.

“Will continues to be part of the team, seeing out his contract until mid-2026.”

Although Red Bull’s position is that Courtenay will see out his contract, typically in such situations teams enter into a period of negotiations leading to a compromise deal that allows the employee to move sooner.

McLaren’s restructure dates back to the appointment of Andrea Stella as team principal in December 2022.

It started with the departure of former technical director James Key in March 2023, coinciding with a series of changes that included the return of Peter Prodromou, who had been sidelined under Key, as technical director in charge of aerodynamics.

Two months later, McLaren signed Rob Marshall from Red Bull as chief designer. He started work in January this year.

Under Stella’s leadership McLaren have progressed from the back of the field at the start of last season to title contenders this year.

McLaren driver Lando Norris is 52 points behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship with six races to go, while McLaren lead Red Bull by 41 points in the constructors’ championship.

Another departure from Red Bull

Courtenay did not respond to a request for comment on his move.

His decision to leave Red Bull follows those of chief technical officer Adrian Newey and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley.

Newey negotiated an early exit from his contract in April and is to join Aston Martin from March next year.

Wheatley’s departure was announced last month - he is joining the Audi team, which is currently racing as Sauber, as team principal in 2025.

The departures at Red Bull come in the wake of allegations of sexual harassment and coercive, controlling behaviour made against team principal Christian Horner by a female employee.

Horner has always denied the accusations, and two separate Red Bull internal inquiries have dismissed the complaint.

Courtenay was at Jaguar’s F1 team when it was taken over by Red Bull at the start of 2005 and stayed ever since, working first as a strategy engineer, then senior analyst, before being promoted to his current role in June 2010.

Working alongside principal strategy engineer Hannah Schmitz in recent years, Courtenay has helped make Red Bull the acknowledged standard-setter in this area of operations.

Red Bull revealed a reorganisation this month as a consequence of Wheatley’s decision to leave.

In it, Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase was made head of racing, while senior strategy engineer Stephen Knowles moved into a new role of head of sporting regulations, with responsibility to liaise with governing body the FIA on non-technical rules matters.

No information was released about any changes to the strategy team at the time.