Racing Bulls Team Principal Laurent Mekies has hailed the impact moving out of the “worst” headquarters in Formula 1 will have on the multi-national outfit.
The former aerodynamics department Racing Bulls operated out of Bicester is no more with the team moving into a new site adjacent to the rest of the Red Bull family in Milton Keynes.
Mekies acknowledged in conversation with select media including Motorsport Week ahead of F1 75 that Racing Bulls had long since outgrown the outdated Bicester facility.
“We decided to go there nearly 15 years ago,” he said.
“It was too small for us, too old. I don’t want to say it was the worst F1 HQ, but I think it really was.”
The benefits of moving into a brand new building are multi-fold for Racing Bulls, not least because it puts the team in closer proximity to Red Bull.
Racing Bulls uses several Red Bull components when constructing its cars, including powertrain and suspension and will be one of two teams using the bespoke Red Bull engine next year.
Moreover, it makes Racing Bulls more attractive in the F1 job market with the majority of talent residing in the UK.
“What we have now is a brand new building,” Mekies explained.
“It started in a field exactly how we wanted it. So, it’s a very high technology facility.
“It gives our people the perfect tools to work in the right conditions.
“It makes us a bit more attractive as well on the job market, when you go and look for the right talents, or when you want to keep your talents. So, it gives us the right platform.
“The fact that it’s just outside of the Red Bull campus, well, at first, we feel closer to the family.
“You know, you get there, you have Red Bull everywhere, you have powertrains, you have Red Bull Racing, you have the Red Bull Advanced Technology.
So, it’s another step of being close to the Red Bull family.
“It’s great to start to interact with the powertrain people ahead of 2026, and just to go across the door.”
Racing Bulls adopting location-free approach
Another change that Racing Bulls has made in light of moving from Bicester to Milton Keynes is a “location-free approach.”
Whereas in the past Racing Bulls lent towards having staff and departments working only in Faenza or the UK, the team’s employees are now free to move between both bases free of department restrictions.
“I don’t think it’s ever an advantage to be split between several headquarters, but we try to look at it differently, and we try to turn that into at least some advantages,” said Mekies.
“So, we do not have one single department that works in Milton Keynes, and another one that works in Faenza.
“We are evolving towards what we call internally a location-free approach, meaning that we can hire the best people we can in Europe, the best people we can in England, and then it’s up to us to make it work.
“So, for instance, Isack’s [Hadjar] race engineers are based in England, and Yuki’s [Tsunoda] are based in Italy. So, that’s how we look at it.”
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