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Red Bull signs Tom McCullough as head of racing to succeed Lambiase
Former Aston Martin engineer Tom McCullough will take over Red Bull's trackside operations in 2027 as Gianpiero Lambiase prepares for a move to McLaren.
By Michael de Vries - 2026-09-02T10:34:31.000Z - 2 min read
Red Bull has moved to resolve its future trackside management structure by signing experienced engineer Tom McCullough as its next head of racing. Scheduled to begin his duties at the start of 2027, the 50-year-old Briton will step into the senior position being vacated by Gianpiero Lambiase ahead of the latter's planned transition to McLaren.
Once installed at Milton Keynes, McCullough will oversee all running aspects of the race team. His brief places him in direct coordination with team principal Laurent Mekies, giving the squad an experienced operational leader to manage trackside execution and garage coordination during race weekends.
Welcoming the agreement, Red Bull formally stated that the team looked forward to the wealth of experience and expertise McCullough will bring to the position once he begins work in early 2027. The outfit acted decisively to secure a proven technical manager capable of handling the comprehensive demands of trackside administration.
McCullough brings an extensive technical pedigree built across several eras of Formula 1. He spent more than a decade based at Silverstone with Aston Martin, remaining a core presence across its earlier identities as Force India and Racing Point. During that tenure, he served as performance director before an internal restructure in January 2025 shifted his duties away from the grand prix squad and into the company's performance technologies division. Earlier in his career, he gathered experience working trackside with both Williams and Sauber.
His arrival addresses a vacancy left by Lambiase, who has agreed to join McLaren as chief racing officer reporting directly to team principal Andrea Stella. Lambiase has long carried dual responsibilities at Red Bull, combining his overarching race-team management duties with his frontline work as Max Verstappen's race engineer, where their direct and unfiltered radio exchanges became a defining element of the team's success.
With McCullough locked in for 2027, attention turns to how the transition unfolds between the two competing constructors. Lambiase is slated to make his switch to Woking by 2028, but confirmed plans for his replacement could pave the way for Red Bull and McLaren to negotiate an earlier release settlement than originally outlined.
By securing McCullough's services well ahead of his arrival date, Red Bull establishes clarity for its operational staff. The appointment ensures that Mekies has an established figure ready to steer the race team forward as the squad manages a significant staff transition over the coming seasons.