The F1 team Racing Bulls is celebrating a major move to a fresh, cutting-edge headquarters, leaving behind what Team Principal Laurent Mekies has candidly termed the “worst” base in the entire Formula 1 circuit. The former premises in Bicester, which once housed the team’s aerodynamics department, have been abandoned in favor of a state-of-the-art building located in Milton Keynes, right next to the rest of the Red Bull family.
In a recent discussion with Motorsport Week and select media outlets, Mekies didn’t mince words about the old headquarters. He acknowledged that the Bicester facility had long ceased to meet the needs of the globally recognized team. “We decided to go there nearly 15 years ago. 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,” Mekies candidly declared.
The move to the new site brings a host of advantages for Racing Bulls, beyond escaping the cramped and aging Bicester building. The close proximity to Red Bull is of strategic importance as Racing Bulls incorporates several Red Bull components in their car builds, including powertrain and suspension systems. The team will also be one of only two teams using the custom-built Red Bull engine next year.
The new location also enhances the attractiveness of Racing Bulls in the F1 job market, where the majority of the talent is based in the UK. “What we have now is a brand new building,” Mekies elaborated. “It started in a field exactly how we wanted it. So, it’s a very high technology facility that gives our people the perfect tools to work in the right conditions.”
The team’s approach has also evolved with the move. Racing Bulls is now promoting a ‘location-free’ approach, allowing employees to work from either the UK or Faenza base without department restrictions. This shift reflects a flexible and progressive attitude that enables the team to hire the best people from Europe and England, and effectively manage their talent resources.
Mekies expressed his enthusiasm for this new approach, stating: “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. 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.”
The team is already reaping the benefits of this new strategy. For instance, Isack Hadjar’s race engineers are now based in England, while Yuki Tsunoda’s team operates from Italy. This location-free approach is set to revamp the way the team functions and interacts within the Red Bull family. With a fresh start in a new location, Racing Bulls is poised to leverage these changes and accelerate their performance in the coming years.
