Racing
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Red Bull has confirmed the appointment of Mercedes junior driver development chief Gwen Lagrue as its new junior driver programme director, completing a notable raid on a rival team’s driver pipeline.
Lagrue joined Mercedes in January 2016 and the team credits him with helping guide George Russell, Kimi Antonelli and Esteban Ocon into Formula 1. That record makes his exit significant for both teams, with Red Bull bringing in a figure who has been central to identifying and developing young talent inside the Mercedes system.
The move follows reporting over the Belgian Grand Prix weekend that Red Bull had targeted Lagrue to effectively replace Helmut Marko as the head of its junior programme, with Marko set to retire at the end of the 2025 season. At Spa on July 19, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff had downplayed the situation’s immediacy, saying: “We’re in discussions with Gwen about the future, but nothing’s been agreed or decided yet.”
Mercedes confirmed the departure in a social media post on Monday, underlining Lagrue’s influence on its current line-up and academy structure. “Thank you Gwen. It's been a great ride,” the team said. “Together, we've developed many young drivers, including our current F1 drivers George and Kimi, and you've made a fantastic contribution. We have built a true successor to the original Mercedes-Benz junior team, and you leave in place a talented group to carry on this work.”
The impact of Lagrue’s work was reflected by Antonelli, who said there was “no doubt” his route to Formula 1 would have looked very different without him. For Red Bull, that is the appeal of the hire: it is not just adding an experienced administrator, but the man Mercedes says helped shape multiple F1 careers as it prepares for a change at the top of its own junior programme.