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McLaren’s hopes of getting hold of Red Bull’s strategy chief Will Courtenay early have faded, with the veteran to remain on the pitwall for his current team throughout the 2025 Formula 1 season.
Last September, McLaren announced that it had signed Courtenay as its new sporting director.
The plan is for him to eventually report in to racing director Randeep Singh in a bid to help boost the Woking-based squad’s operations on a race weekend.
While it was known at the time that Courtenay’s current contract with Red Bull runs until the middle of 2026, it is normal in such situations for teams to negotiate for an early release to get staff moving sooner.
Although McLaren was eager to cut some form of deal so it could slot Courtenay in as soon as possible, and potentially even this season, it is understood that Red Bull has shown no interest in such an arrangement and plans for him to see out the full length of his contract.
It means Courtenay will remain on the pitwall in his current role for Red Bull as head of strategy for the 2025 campaign.
He will continue working alongside Hannah Schmitz, its principal strategy engineer, who is expected to step up and replace Courtenay when the switch to McLaren eventually happens.
Speaking in the wake of the news of Courtenay’s departure last year, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said he understood why the change of teams had proved attractive.
“He [Courtenay] has been here for 20 years,” said Horner. “We talked about other roles within the group. He was offered a bigger role on a very high salary from McLaren, and at that point you have got to say: 'Good luck. Go for it.'
"But at the same time, it gives an opportunity for Hannah Schmitz to move up, which, if she hadn't had that opportunity, she'd have been a prime target for somebody.”
McLaren changes
While McLaren faces waiting until the middle of 2026 to get hold of Courtenay, it has evolved its own pitwall reporting structure for this year.
Oli Cartlidge, formerly a senior specialist on the race strategy side, has been promoted into a new role as lead of race strategy and strategy operations.
His expanded role should help free up Singh to focus more on his wider remit as racing director, without getting distracted any more than necessary with strategy matters.
McLaren had already shifted Cartlidge’s responsibilities a bit last year, but the formal change in his position ensures a clearer reporting structure ahead of a season where the squad hopes to be fighting for both F1 titles.
While Red Bull keeping a senior departing team member on board rather than them being put on gardening leave or released may seem unusual, the squad showed last year that it was happy to keep staff working front and centre even if their futures were elsewhere.
Sporting director Jonathan Wheatley, who announced in the middle of the year that he is moving to Sauber to become its new team principal, remained in his position at the squad until the end of the 2024 campaign.
The Race revealed earlier that Red Bull has now agreed an early release for Wheatley to join his new employers a few months ahead of his contract ending officially in July.
