Red Bull has officially confirmed the signing of experienced engineer Tom McCullough from Aston Martin to fill the head of racing role being vacated by Gianpiero Lambiase.
Lambiase is set to depart Red Bull for McLaren, where he will become chief racing officer in 2028, reporting directly to team principal Andrea Stella.
The Briton has been performing a dual role at Red Bull, serving as Max Verstappen’s race engineer while simultaneously holding a broader head of racing position across the team.
McCullough is set to join the Milton Keynes outfit at the beginning of 2027, with Red Bull wasting little time in securing a high-profile replacement for such a critical role.
Red Bull shared their enthusiasm for the appointment, stating: “We’re delighted to welcome Tom to the team at the beginning of 2027 and look forward to the wealth of experience and expertise he will bring to the role.”
McCullough brings a long and distinguished track record to Red Bull, having been closely associated with Aston Martin through its previous incarnations as Force India and Racing Point.
He served as chief race engineer at Aston Martin for four seasons before stepping up to become the team’s performance director, a role he held through to the end of the 2024 season.
A restructuring at Aston Martin in early 2025 saw McCullough’s duties redistributed, with former team principal Mike Krack absorbing his responsibilities as part of the reshuffle.
McCullough was subsequently moved into a senior leadership role focused on non-Formula 1 projects within Aston Martin Performance Technologies, a position he will now leave to join Red Bull.
The 50-year-old began his career at chassis builder Reynard and also accumulated experience at both Sauber and Williams before his long stint with the Aston Martin group of teams.
Red Bull’s move for McCullough comes alongside confirmation that Verstappen’s former performance engineer Tom Hart has decided against relocating to Williams to take up a race engineer position from 2027.
The sequence of departures and replacements at Red Bull signals a significant shift in the team’s engineering structure as it prepares for the next phase of its Formula 1 campaign.