Red Bull signs key Aston Martin engineer as Lambiase replacement

The Red Bull Formula 1 team has confirmed it has hired long-time Aston Martin engineer Tom McCullough to replace McLaren bound Gianpiero Lambiase as head of racing.

Lambiase will join McLaren in 2028 to become its chief racing officer, reporting into team principal Andrea Stella. The Briton is currently serving a dual role at the team as Max Verstappen's race engineer, dovetailing those duties with a more overarching "head of racing" position.

As previously reported, Verstappen's former performance engineer Tom Hart has decided against a move to Williams to take over the race engineer role starting in 2027. The Milton Keynes squad has now also found a successor for Lambiase as head of racing in the shape of Aston Martin man McCullough.

"We're delighted to welcome Tom to the team at the beginning of 2027 and look forward to the wealth of experience and expertise he will bring to the role," the team shared in a statement.

Gianpiero Lambiase is set to depart Red Bull by 2028 at the latest.

Photo by: Kym Illman / Getty Images

McCullough was a long-time servant of Aston Martin through its Force India and Racing Point days, performing the chief race engineer role for four seasons before becoming its performance director, a job which he held until the end of the 2024 season.

As part of a restructuring of the team in early 2025, McCullough's duties were taken on by previous team principal Mike Krack. McCullough was shifted to non-F1 projects at Aston Martin Performance Technologies in a senior leadership role, which he is now set to vacate.

The 50-year-old, who started his career at chassis builder Reynard, also served spells at Sauber and Williams.