Will Courtenay finally on his way to McLaren from Red Bull

McLaren announced the signing of Courtenay as their new Sporting Director back in 2024, following that's year's Singapore Grand Prix.

Red Bull, however, refused to release him from his contract that expired in 2026 and insisted on him serving a gardening leave before joining their rivals in Woking.

As such, Courtenay continued in his role at the head of the Red Bull strategy team during the 2025 Formula 1 season.

But now, it appears that Red Bull have agreed to release Courtenay who announced on his LinkedIn account that he will be joining McLaren.

Courtenay said:  "After 22 years at Red Bull Racing, the last 15 as head of race strategy there, I’m excited to say I’m now embarking on a new challenge, joining the McLaren Racing Formula 1 Team as sporting director.

"I’d like to say a huge thanks to everyone I worked with at Red Bull," he added. "I made so many great friends there and I hope I’ll still see many of you in the paddock. It was an incredible two and a bit decades.

"But now I’m looking forward to settling into my new role and team, and hopefully making plenty more new friends, as I do my very best to help McLaren continue its recent success in the coming years."

Courtenay will report to Racing Director Randeep Singh in his new role at McLaren.

He is one of the recent staff departures from Red Bull who lost Adrian Newey, Jonathan Wheatley, Christian Horner, and Helmut Marko over the course of the last year.

There are also reports that Max Verstappen's Race Engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase may be on his way of of Milton Keynes and is in talks with Williams and Aston Martin.