Red Bull design guru leaves team just before new season starts

Max Verstappen in his RB19 doing some donuts in Abu Dhabi — Photo: © IMAGO

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Red Bull design guru leaves team just before new season starts

Change is afoot

Originally written by Sheona Mountford. This version is a translation.

Wednesday 18 February 2026 18:00

Red Bull have parted ways with their chief designer just before the 2026 F1 campaign begins, ending a four-year spell in charge of the design department.

Craig Skinner worked closely with figures such as Adrian Newey and Pierre Wache after stepping into the chief designer role in 2022, and played a key role in creating Red Bull’s dominant RB19 challenger.

Having first joined Red Bull at the outset of the 2006 season, Skinner has now ended his lengthy tenure with the team, with reports indicating that the decision to depart was his own.

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"After 20 years with the team, Craig Skinner, our Chief Designer, will be leaving the Red Bull Technology team," Red Bull said in a statement.

"Craig has been an integral part of our team and its success, and we would like to thank him for his hard work and commitment.

Craig Skinner joins Red Bull exits

Skinner originally joined Red Bull in 2006 as a CFD engineer and in 2018, he was appointed deputy head of aerodynamics.

The Brit is one of the many long-standing Red Bull figures to depart in recent years, with Newey and Jonathan Wheatley switching to rivals Aston Martin and Audi respectively.

Wheatley's departure was to take on a more senior role as Audi's team principal, with switches to rival teams often avenues of advancement for engineers in the F1 paddock.

Red Bull enters a new era with Laurent Mekies at the helm, and with the help of Ford their in-house power unit is the talk of the town thanks to its electric energy deployment.

Whether this will be enough to conquer Mercedes' monster engine remains to be seen, with the top teams concealing a little of their true potential during Bahrain testing.

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