Red Bull is carrying out a targeted reorganization of its technical department by entrusting more responsibility to Ben Waterhouse
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Red Bull has formalized a series of organizational changes within its technical department, effective immediately, aimed at strengthening its operational efficiency and development potential.
Ben Waterhouse thus sees his responsibilities expanded as performance engineering and design director, with direct oversight of the design and vehicle performance departments. He will report directly to technical director Pierre Waché.
Arriving in 2014 in the Red Bull environment after a stint at BMW-Sauber, Waterhouse initially held the position of deputy technical director at Toro Rosso, before becoming head of performance engineering at Red Bull from 2017 onwards.
This organizational evolution explicitly aims to strengthen the synergy between the different technical branches. “This evolution strengthens integration between these areas and will accelerate the development of competitive and high-performing solutions,” states the statement published on Friday.
A structural response rather than a disavowal
The fact that Waterhouse takes on a transversal responsibility over two key pillars — design and performance — introduces a strong intermediate layer between Pierre Waché and daily technical operations.
This does not necessarily constitute a direct challenge to the technical director, but suggests a need for optimization in the decision-making and execution chain. The Frenchman, father of the Red Bull RB22 issue, retains his role as technical director and remains at the top of the hierarchy.
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On the other hand, the introduction of a profile like that of the Briton in an expanded role reflects a desire to adjust internal functioning, possibly to correct certain inefficiencies observed in the transformation of concepts into track performance.
It remains to be seen whether this new organization will more effectively resolve the correlation and setup issues that currently condition competitiveness at the highest level.
Landi to consolidate performance
Following this reorganization, Andrea Landi will join the team from July 1 as head of performance, under Waterhouse’s direction.
With significant experience in Formula 1, notably as deputy head of vehicle performance at Ferrari and deputy technical director at VCARB, Landi is presented as a strategic reinforcement. His recruitment is not only about bringing external experience but also a strategic internal transfer: he recently held a key role at Racing Bulls, where he notably supervised the design of the cars.
In recent seasons, this structure has stood out for cars considered more exploitable and predictable than those of Red Bull, especially in 2025. In a context where the current Red Bull car suffers precisely from a lack of a clear exploitation window and uncertain development direction, Landi’s arrival can be interpreted as an attempt to inject a more “usable” design philosophy better correlated to the track. This therefore goes beyond a simple hierarchical reinforcement: it is potentially a conceptual rebalancing, made possible by the structural proximity between the two teams and the absence of classic personnel transfer constraints.
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