The RB Formula 1 team is set to move into its new aerodynamics facility in Milton Keynes at the end of 2024, according to team boss Laurent Mekies.
RB’s headquarters will remain in Faenza, where the team has been based since the late 1970s under its guise as Minardi.
The team will vacate its facility in Biscester having used Red Bull’s larger-scale wind tunnel in Bedford since 2022.
A new facility is to be constructed on the Red Bull campus in Milton Keynes which Mekies believes will be up and running by the end of the year.
“I will start by saying that we have not asked any engineers to move to England,” Mekies told Motorsport.com’s Italian site.
“Faenza is the historic home of the team and is also a fairly modern facility, which has also enjoyed fairly recent investment. We have very good production tools here and a large part of the design office.
“In Bicester, we have the aero department, concept design and part of the design office – all in a location chosen to be close to the wind tunnel.
“Fifteen years ago, the team was smaller than it is today, and Bicester made sense. Today, the aero department has tripled in size; we no longer use this tunnel because we have another one, and the location is no longer suitable.
“So, we will leave it at the end of the year and move to a new facility in Milton Keynes, next to the Red Bull campus.”
McLaren boss Zak Brown has led criticism from rival teams, citing concerns over Red Bull’s ownership of two of the eight teams on the Formula 1 grid.
Brown has questioned whether the two Red Bull-owned teams remain fully independent of each other, particularly given the strengthening alliance between its two squads.
RB’s relocation to Milton Keynes has led to speculation over a personnel crossover between the two teams, however Mekies has denied those suggestions.
“The regulations are very clear. It is very well defined that you cannot use the transfer of personnel to bypass the regulation regarding [intellectual property]. So, you cannot move a person from team A to team B in order to transfer knowledge.
“Now, in our case, I can say that these transfers were infrequent, but every time there was a transfer we asked the FIA whether the move of a technician or an engineer in a specific role was to be considered in line with what was specified in the regulation. And we have always acted only after receiving the OK from the FIA.”
