Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Cadillac is set to land one of Red Bull’s longest-serving senior engineers, with multiple reports saying Paul Monaghan has completed or is close to completing a move that would strengthen the new Formula 1 entrant’s trackside engineering operation.
Monaghan has been part of Red Bull’s F1 team since 2005 and is currently described as head engineer or the lead for car engineering. Before joining the Milton Keynes squad, he worked at McLaren and Renault, with one report also noting earlier experience at Jordan. Across roughly two decades at Red Bull, he has been part of the group behind several championship-winning cars.
The timing of the switch is still unclear. Reports differ on whether the move is finalized or nearing completion, and any start date at Cadillac may be delayed by a lengthy gardening-leave period, a common measure in F1 to limit technology transfer between rivals. Sky Sports reported Monaghan was not present at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone because that leave had already begun.
Talk of Monaghan leaving Red Bull grew during the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, when Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies refused to address individual staffing rumours. Mekies said, “There are a lot of rumours around the team and its people,” before adding, “I don’t think it would be fair for me to comment on every rumour that comes up.” He also said that of the names mentioned in recent months, “most of them are still in the garage” and that “some never wanted to leave, others changed their minds and are staying after all.”
If the move is confirmed, it would give Cadillac a proven senior engineering figure from a title-winning environment as it builds out its technical structure for its first season in Formula 1. For Red Bull, losing Monaghan would add another crack to a technical core that has been together through much of the team’s most successful era.