All About the New Racing Bulls Team Principal
The tides are changing in Formula 1, but not with the drivers; with the Team Principals. Red Bull let go of Christian Horner at the beginning of July, replacing him with Laurent Mekies, who is now the former Team Principal of Racing Bulls. Now, as these swaps occur, who is the new man in charge of Racing Bulls? Does he have what it takes? Well, to answer these questions, we must introduce the man of the hour: Alan Permane. He has had a career in motorsports since 1989, working as a test electronics engineer for the Benetton Formula 1 team. He had just completed an electronics engineering apprenticeship and secured his spot on the team at just 22 years old.
From that role, he rose in motosports, earning a well-deserved promotion in 1996 to a junior race engineer. Only a year later, he became a race engineer for the Enstone outfit when the team became known as Renault F1. He was their racing engineer from 1997 to 2006. In 2007, he became the chief racing engineer for Renault, and when 2011 rolled around, he was promoted to Chief Operating Officer. In 2012, Permane became the Sporting Director for the Lotus Formula 1 team, which he had as the team transitioned back into Renault. Now, Renault is known as Alpine, which supports drivers Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto.
Unfortunately, Permane was released by Alpine after the Belgian Grand Prix on July 28th, 2023. At the start of 2024, he was announced to be joining the Visa Cash App Red Bull Formula 1 Team as the racing director. Now, as we are midway through the 2025 season, he has been appointed as the Team Principal for Racing Bulls. With so much experience in the Formula 1 world, there is no doubt that Permane will do wonderful things for the Red Bull Racing sister team. As we approach the Belgian Grand Prix and the Spa track, fans and viewers will see how Permane handles his first race with the team, hopefully bringing results to his racers, Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar. Make sure to watch the race on Sunday, July 27th.
