Red Bull reshuffles technical team, promoting Waterhouse and hiring Landi from Racing Bulls

Red Bull Racing has promoted long-time performance chief Ben Waterhouse to a new senior role and hired Andrea Landi from sister team Racing Bulls as his replacement. The moves aim to strengthen technical integration as the reigning champions seek to recover from a difficult start to the 2026 Formula 1 season.

Why it matters:

This internal reshuffle comes at a critical time for Red Bull, which is currently sixth in the constructors' championship and grappling with fundamental issues on its RB22 car. Strengthening the bridge between design and vehicle performance is a direct response to those early-season struggles, highlighting the team's urgency to find competitive solutions. Furthermore, bringing in Landi represents a strategic internal hire from within the Red Bull family, countering a recent trend of high-profile personnel departing for rivals like McLaren.

The details:

• Ben Waterhouse, who first joined the Red Bull program in 2014 at Toro Rosso (now Racing Bulls), has been promoted to Chief Performance and Design Engineer.
• His new role is designed to bridge the design and vehicle performance departments, reporting directly to Technical Director Pierre Wache, with the goal of accelerating development.
• Replacing Waterhouse as Head of Performance from July 1st is Andrea Landi, who moves from Racing Bulls where he served as Deputy Technical Director for car design.
• The team stated the changes reflect a dual focus on developing internal talent while attracting leading expertise from across the sport.
• This internal hire follows several notable departures from Red Bull's senior ranks to McLaren, including Max Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase (set for 2028) and former strategy chief Will Courtenay.

What's next:

The immediate pressure is on the revamped performance department to unlock more potential from the problematic RB22 and help Red Bull climb the championship order. Waterhouse's promotion into a cross-departmental role will be judged on how effectively it streamlines development and produces faster upgrades. Meanwhile, Landi's integration from the sister team will be watched closely, as his familiarity with Red Bull's systems could allow for a quicker impact compared to an external hire. These technical adjustments are the first major organizational response to a challenging start, with their success pivotal to Red Bull's 2026 campaign.