F1 News: 'Brilliant' new Red Bull signing is 'massive mistake for Aston Martin' claims expert

Tom McCullough, Aston Martin, F1, 2023, generic — Photo: © IMAGO

Red Bull F1

'Brilliant' new Red Bull signing is 'massive mistake for Aston Martin' claims F1 expert

Red Bull got their man

Graham Shaw Consultant Editor

Digital sports specialist running global brands for 30 years

Friday 4 September 2026 09:45 Updated: 10:57

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Red Bull have been praised for a 'brilliant' signing after getting their Gianpiero Lambiase replacement, but a top F1 expert believes it is 'a massive mistake for Aston Martin'.

Earlier this week the news broke that Tom McCullough is indeed leaving the team in green to join Red Bull from 2027 as their Head of Racing.

That means the 50-year-old Englishman will take on at least part of the role currently occupied by Lambiase in Milton Keynes. It is expected that Tom Hart will replace Lambiase as Max Verstappen's race engineer.

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With 'GP' already confirmed to be leaving for McLaren not later than 2028, signing McCullough is the latest step in an important rebuild for Red Bull.

In the last 24 months the team have lost a glut of experienced top-level F1 talent - including Christian Horner, Adrian Newey, Helmut Marko, Jonathan Wheatley, Rob Marshall and of course now Lambiase.

Things are now starting to look again from a recruitment perspective with Verstappen having just signed a record-setting contract extension through 2030. The team have also poached ace talent scout Gwen Lagrue from Mercedes to replace Marko.

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McCullough signing a 'brilliant' move for Red Bull - Windsor

Former F1 team manager turned analyst/expert Peter Windsor believes McCullough is a terrific get for Laurent Mekies and co, but not so good for the team he is leaving - Aston Martin.

Speaking on YouTube, he said: "I hear that Tom McCullough is going to Red Bull. He's worked for quite a few teams over the years - Williams, Sauber, Force India, more recently Aston Martin.

"And when he was moved sideways at Aston I did say what a massive mistake this was. Very talented engineer, great guy, great feel for racing, real Rob Marshall sort of guy. And brilliant to see that he's now going to Red Bull. And what a mistake by Aston Martin to let him go.

Getting McCullough is a big win for Mekies, says Windsor.

"Congratulations to Tom, he'll do a great job there - it's probably the reason Max stayed, not the only reason of course but definitely a major step in the right direction for Red Bull."

Red Bull rebuilding again around Verstappen

Windsor appeared to be half-joking with that first Verstappen comment, but signings like this will clearly only have bolstered the Dutchman's belief that Red Bull can again surround him with the team to produce a championship-winning car.

So far 2026 has not been good for the once-dominant team, with Verstappen only sixth in the Drivers' standings while Red Bull are a very distant fourth in the Constructors' table.

Pos	Team	Points
1	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	425
2	Scuderia Ferrari HP	338
3	McLaren Mastercard F1 Team	263
4	Oracle Red Bull Racing	186

Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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