Red Bull is heading into Formula 1’s 2026 reset with another senior figure walking out of Milton Keynes.
Chief designer Craig Skinner is set to leave the team after four years leading its design office, ending a long stint that began in 2006. Red Bull confirmed the move in a short statement, framing it as Skinner’s decision and paying tribute to his role in the squad’s success.
“After 20 years with the team, Craig Skinner, our Chief Designer, will be leaving the Red Bull Technology team,” Red Bull said. “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.”
Inside the paddock, the timing is what lands with a thud. The sport is on the brink of the biggest technical and operational rebalancing in years, and Red Bull is trying to thread a particularly fine needle: bedding in a new management structure while also bringing its own power unit to the grid for the first time.
Skinner’s fingerprints are all over the modern Red Bull era. He joined as a CFD engineer, moved into senior aerodynamic roles — deputy head of aero from 2018 — and then stepped up to chief designer in 2022. His contribution to the RB19 is specifically noted internally as significant, and that car remains the reference point for how ruthlessly efficient Red Bull can be when the pieces align.
But 2026 is not about polishing yesterday’s strengths; it’s about surviving the first year of a new world. A chief designer isn’t just a name on an org chart in this cycle. That role is the clearing house where compromises are signed off: packaging versus cooling, weight versus stiffness, aero platform versus mechanical layout, and the endless trade-offs that become even more acute when a fresh power unit concept is still being understood in real time.
The uncomfortable truth for any team is that you don’t really “replace” that kind of continuity overnight. You can cover it with process, layers of sign-off and technical leadership elsewhere — and Red Bull still has plenty of talent — but you lose the institutional feel for how the organisation naturally makes a fast car when the pressure spikes. And 2026 will spike it for everyone.
Skinner’s exit also lands in the middle of what is, by recent Red Bull standards, a full-scale reshuffle.
Laurent Mekies now runs the operation, having taken over from Christian Horner in the days after last year’s British Grand Prix. Then came the departure of Dr Helmut Marko at the end of 2025 — described as a choice, even if the mood music around it suggested a less-than-seamless farewell. Red Bull has also been through further restructuring, including the removal of four staff, among them Alice Hedworth, who previously worked as Sergio Perez’s press officer and later supported Mekies in the early months of his tenure.
Put it together and it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that this is Red Bull re-writing how it works, not merely swapping a couple of seats on the pit wall. That can be energising when it’s controlled. It can also be destabilising when the calendar, the regulation book and the competitive landscape all change at once.
The big technical unknown, of course, is Red Bull Powertrains. Early running in Barcelona and Bahrain has impressed observers in the paddock, and there’s been plenty of chatter positioning Red Bull as a potential dark horse on power unit performance — particularly around energy deployment.
That claim is already being argued over. Some suggest Red Bull might have an edge in how it uses its electrical energy across the lap; others point out that the numbers don’t really back up the more dramatic versions of that story. What does seem fair, based on the early read, is that Red Bull looks firmly in the mix among the leading group heading into the new era.
On track, Max Verstappen remains the obvious reference point, and Isack Hadjar is again expected to be part of Red Bull’s front-running picture as the new grid takes shape. Off track, though, the question is whether Red Bull can keep the same ruthless clarity that defined its best years while the organisation is still settling into a different leadership rhythm and a different technical future.
Skinner’s departure doesn’t mean Red Bull suddenly forgets how to design a racing car. But losing a chief designer on the eve of a regulation reset is never “just” a personnel note, especially when it’s layered on top of a new team principal, a post-Mark(o) reality, and a home-grown engine programme trying to land on its feet immediately.
The sport has seen this story go both ways: some teams rally around change and come out sharper; others spend a season discovering that stability is a performance asset you only truly value once it’s gone. Red Bull now gets to find out which version of itself turns up for 2026.
