Red Bull Racing's Chief Engineer Paul Monaghan to Cadillac a done deal

Recent reports have claimed that Monaghan will be leaving the Milton Keynes squad, but GrandPrix247 can now report that the deal is done.

While there are no specifics about the time frames of Monaghan's departure from Red Bull Racing and his arrival at Cadillac, the engineer has been absent from his team's garages this weekend in Silverstone.

Red Bull Racing downplayed this absence, claiming it is planned, as Monaghan has missed races before, but such an excuse may be logical for flyaway races, not when the Grand Prix is basically across the street from the team's headquarters.

Anyhow, it seems that the hemorrhage of talent from Red Bull Racing continues, as Monaghan will be the latest senior member to leave after Max Verstappen's long-time race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase was recently announced to be joining McLaren at the end of his current contract with the team in 2028.

While Adrian Newey left Red Bull for Aston Martin, with that move causing speculation that Verstappen may follow him there, Lambiase's departure has also fueled rumors that the Dutchman may follow him to McLaren despite having a contract with the team until the end of 2028.

Verstappen apparently has performance-related exit clauses within his contract, which he can trigger at certain stages within the season if he is not within the top two/three in the Formula 1 Drivers' Championship.

Red Bull have not had a great start to their 2026 season, as they introduced their first-ever F1 power unit in collaboration with Ford, but an upgrade over their home Grand Prix weekend in Austria improved their RB22 with Verstappen finishing second.

Will that be enough to convince Verstappen to remain? The four-time Champion insists he is loyal to Red Bull but needs a competitive car. Time will tell.