Red Bull hires Aston Martin's McCullough to fill Lambiase's head of racing role

Red Bull has confirmed the appointment of Tom McCullough as its new head of racing, with the 50-year-old Aston Martin veteran set to join the Milton Keynes team at the start of 2027. He fills the vacancy left by Gianpiero Lambiase, who will depart for McLaren by 2028 to become its chief racing officer under team principal Andrea Stella.

Lambiase currently holds a dual role at Red Bull, serving as Max Verstappen’s race engineer while also overseeing broader head of racing responsibilities. His eventual exit had already prompted the team to seek a replacement, and McCullough emerged as the chosen candidate after Verstappen’s former performance engineer Tom Hart opted against a move to Williams to take on the race engineer position from 2027.

“We’re delighted to welcome Tom to the team at the beginning of 2027 and look forward to the wealth of experience and expertise he will bring to the role,” Red Bull said in a statement.

McCullough brings extensive top-flight experience to the position. He spent the bulk of his career at Aston Martin across its previous incarnations as Force India and Racing Point, serving four seasons as chief race engineer before stepping up to performance director — a role he held through the end of the 2024 season. When Aston Martin restructured its technical operation in early 2025, his duties were absorbed by then-team principal Mike Krack, and McCullough was redeployed to non-F1 projects within Aston Martin Performance Technologies.

Before his long tenure at the Silverstone-based outfit, McCullough worked at chassis builder Reynard, where he began his career, and also held positions at Sauber and Williams, giving him a broad grounding across the paddock.

The move represents a significant reshuffle at Red Bull as it prepares for a post-Lambiase era. With Hart staying on in a race engineering capacity and McCullough taking the strategic head of racing brief, the team is rebuilding its operational structure around Verstappen ahead of what promises to be a competitive 2027 season.