Red Bull has quietly kicked off a senior strategy hiring drive as it prepares for life after Will Courtenay, the long-serving head of strategy who’s McLaren-bound for 2026.
McLaren snapped up Courtenay in the aftermath of last year’s Singapore Grand Prix, appointing him sporting director under racing director Randeep Singh. Woking tried to fast-track his arrival, but Red Bull shut the door on an early release. The upshot: Courtenay sees out the 2025 season in Milton Keynes and is expected to cross the floor by mid-2026 at the latest.
In the meantime, Red Bull is reinforcing the brains trust on the pit wall. The team has posted for a Senior Strategy Engineer, a rare opening in a department that’s been central to so many of its race-day slam dunks. The role will split time between the pit wall and the operations room at the Milton Keynes campus, managing live race strategy and helping to build the tools and processes that underpin it. Travel is set at roughly half the calendar, with the rest of the weekends supported from HQ.
Hannah Schmitz, Red Bull’s principal strategy engineer, shared the vacancy and is poised to step up when Courtenay departs. “We are hiring,” she wrote, calling for an experienced addition who can alternate the travelling role. The job spec points to a candidate comfortable leading real-time calls, collaborating across departments, mentoring juniors, and—crucially—writing software to power the team’s analytics stack. Prior trackside responsibility is preferred, along with the usual mix of communication, time management and leadership chops. Applications are open until month-end.
Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko signposted the succession plan when Courtenay’s move first broke. “It’s a natural development, when you’re successful, that people are poached,” he said at the time, adding: “There is someone with us who can take over this position and that is Hannah Schmitz.” Schmitz, a Cambridge graduate who joined Red Bull in 2009 in modelling and simulation, has been a central voice in the team’s race-craft for years.
McLaren, for its part, couldn’t hide its delight. Team principal Andrea Stella called Courtenay “the ideal candidate to lead our F1 sporting function,” adding that his arrival strengthens the leadership spine as the team targets regular wins and a title push.
All of this unfolds against a high-pressure 2025 campaign for Red Bull, with Max Verstappen paired with Yuki Tsunoda and every strategic call scrutinised. Courtenay stays in the room for now, Schmitz is set to take the reins, and Red Bull wants another sharp mind at her side to keep the pit-wall calculus razor‑sharp as the sport barrels toward new regulations in 2026.
