Lawson gets new race engineer for 2025 F1 season

Crimson Bull has named Sergio Perez’s former efficiency engineer Richard Wooden as the brand new race engineer for incoming Method 1 driver Liam Lawson in 2025.

Wooden garnered expertise on the Crimson Bull pit wall a number of instances throughout 2024 when Perez’s common race engineer Hugh Chook was on paternity depart.

A protracted-term Crimson Bull worker, Wooden joined the workforce as a strategist earlier than transferring into race help and simulator engineering forward of switching to the trackside workforce, and now turns into Lawson’s race engineer because the Kiwi steps as much as the lead Crimson Bull-owned workforce.

This follows a restructuring of Red Bull’s trackside operations following the departure of Jonathan Wheatley. Gianpiero Lambiase – Max Verstappen’s race engineer – has taken up a bigger function, as reported by Autosport months ago.

Wheatley will begin his new problem at Sauber on 1 April – sooner than initially deliberate – and is now not working for Crimson Bull. He’s serving the necessary interval of gardening depart these months. 

Crimson Bull isn’t changing Wheatley one-on-one, however has divided his duties amongst a number of workforce members; in a single such instance, Lambiase is taking up a bigger function as head of racing. 

Jonathan Wheatley, Crew Supervisor, Crimson Bull Racing

Photograph by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Photographs

Lambiase stays Verstappen’s race engineer, however has been given extra duties that contain the whole workforce. Lambiase heads the day by day ‘race operation’ in addition to some technique operations. 

When it comes to technique, Will Courtenay stays at the Red Bull pit wall this year regardless of being signed by McLaren final 12 months. The chief strategist will depart for McLaren mid-2026, however Crimson Bull won’t launch him earlier.

One other a part of Wheatley’s duties will fall beneath Steve Knowles. He’s the pinnacle of sporting within the new construction, which amongst different issues entails communication with race management.

Regardless of Lambiase’s promotion, the engineering workforce round Verstappen stays intact. This additionally applies to senior management methods engineer Michael Manning, who has indicated internally that he aspires to a unique place. 

Manning and his methods workforce play an essential function in Verstappen’s begins, which have develop into more and more complicated in modern-day F1. 

Nonetheless, Crimson Bull confirmed that Manning will end the 2025 season in his present function and that he won’t transfer to a different workforce, regardless of stories that the Irishman was to depart.