Racing Bulls has begun moving into its new aerodynamic facility situated on the Red Bull Formula 1 campus in Milton Keynes.
The Red Bull sister outfit had outgrown its existing facility in Bicester, which it had operated for well over a decade.
Moving to a brand new site in Milton Keynes will give Racing Bull’s staff more room to operate and a closer proximity to the Red Bull wind tunnel it has been utilising since 2022.
It’s all a part of creating a greater technical synergy between the two Red Bull-owned F1 teams and Racing Bulls Team Principal Laurent Mekies was buoyed by the prospect of moving into the new aero facility when he spoke to Motorsport Week in August.
“Now the [Bicester] facility is simply not good enough,” Mekies said.
“We are building something at an incredible standard in Milton Keynes for our people.
“For sure it’s going to be instrumental in working in better conditions, being even more attractive on the job market for the next challenges.
“We have a good headquarters in Faenza. We had a suboptimal headquarters in Bicester and now we have an excellent headquarters in Milton Keynes.”
Racing Bulls outgrew Bicester facility
Speaking to PlanetF1, Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer explained further the motivations and mechanics behind the move.
“The Milton Keynes office is ready,” he said.
“We have had the IT guys there actually fitting it out, making it, because the plan is to have everything ready for the people, over the shutdown, to make the move and to be operational as of January 2, to not lose any time in terms of the development, model shop, the wind tunnel, and everything.
“So there won’t be any losses and it’s a game-changer because it’s a state-of-the-art facility.
“Bicester is still, more or less, the old Reynard facility.
“We put in a couple of new desks and a new carpet, but that’s about it.
“So there’s no parking, no canteen, and no supermarket around to get some food. The gym is tiny and old. It’s just not up to date anymore.
“It’s also too small for us.”
Benefits aplenty after Milton Keynes move
Moving to Milton Keynes not only allows Racing Bulls to develop a brand new model shop and invest in CFD tools, bringing a performance benefit to its 2025 cars and beyond, but the expansion will help bolster its workforce.
Having ample space and facilities makes Racing Bulls a more attractive employer on the F1 scene and Mekies revealed to media in Abu Dhabi last December that the team is taking a new approach to recruitment.
“I think the biggest effect on the 2025 car is probably some of the changes we’ve made to our processes – some of the people we have managed to add to certain areas where we want to be stronger,” he said.
“The facilities will come a bit later, because we move there in January.”
Moreover, rather than being strict in recruiting personnel based on department in either Faenza, Italy or the UK, Mekies said Racing Bulls is being more dynamic with prospective staff.
“What we have decided consciously, right or wrong, is that we have decided to move away from the model where aero is in Bicester and pretty much the rest is in Italy,” Mekies began.
“That’s finished.
“Now we try to see the company as location-free. Anyone we want to hire, we take the best girls or guys.
“If they happen to be in Italy or in Europe, we take them in Europe. If they happen to be in the UK, we take them in the UK.
“We have one race engineer who is based in the UK, and the race engineer of the other car is in Europe, so that’s how we are looking into it. It’s a change.
“We felt that it would be the best chance to turn a logistical disadvantage into perhaps an advantage when we look for people.
“We have managed to grab a few guys from top teams on a purely personal life basis, because maybe one wants to have his life back in the UK, or another one wants to have a new life in Italy.
“So we try to turn that into an advantage.”
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