New Racing Bulls F1 team boss ‘shocked’ after ‘amazing’ promotion

Alan Permane is the team principal of Red Bull sister’s team after Laurent Mekies replaced Christian Horner

Alan Permane admitted he was “shocked” after being announced as Racing Bulls’ new team principal following Christian Horner’s exit at Red Bull.

The domino effect of Horner being relieved of his duties saw Laurent Mekies – formerly RB team principal – promoted to Red Bull F1 CEO. Permane, who was previously racing director at RB, is now the team boss.

The 58-year-old was previously with Alpine, in all its previous guises including championship-winning seasons with Benetton and Renault, for 34 years before being let go in July 2023. The engineer joined Racing Bulls at the start of last season.

“I had many reactions to the news, some shock, some pride,” Permane told Motorsport.com.

“It’s amazing that they feel I’m capable and have the potential to lead this team.

“I deeply thank the Red Bull Austria senior management, Oliver Mintzlaff and Helmut Marko, and of course Laurent for recommending me, pushing me forward, his belief in me as well. It’s been a great week.”

Racing Bulls are currently seventh in the constructors’ championship and have two young talents in Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar in the cockpit.

Alan Permane is Racing Bulls’s new team principal (Getty Images)

Yuki Tsunoda was previously with the team for four years before being promoted in March to replace Lawson, dropped by Red Bull after just two races.

“It’s a great team and I know that the senior Red Bull guys are extremely happy with the way the team is being run,” Permane added. “They’re very happy with our competitiveness.

“The target is to be top of the midfield, and we are certainly in a battle for that and we’ll continue that fight throughout this year.”

The next race of the 2025 season is the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend (25-27 July).