Red Bull Chief Designer Craig Skinner departs after 20 years with the F1 team

Red Bull’s Chief Designer Craig Skinner has left the Formula 1 team with immediate effect, the six-time World Champions have confirmed.

Skinner joined Red Bull in 2006 and worked closely with Adrian Newey, who has since left to join Aston Martin, and Pierre Wache, who heads up Red Bull’s technical division.

He played a key role in Red Bull’s success when they won consecutive world titles between 2021 and 2024 with Max Verstappen.

Red Bull, under the leadership of Laurent Mekies, enjoyed a resurgence at the back end of last year following a raft of updates on the car, which in turn enabled Verstappen to win six of the last nine races and fight for the title until the season finale.

Ahead of the second pre-season test in Bahrain, it has emerged Skinner has left the team but it remains unclear what his next move will be.

Red Bull said in a statement: “After 20 years with the team, Craig Skinner, our Chief Designer, will be leaving the Red Bull Technology team.

“Craig has been an integral part of our team and its success, and we would like to thank him for his hard work and commitment. The whole Red Bull team wishes him all the best for the future.”

Following his departure, it is believed his role will be covered internally in the interim.

Red Bull have enjoyed a strong start to their 2026 campaign, with their first-ever Formula 1 Power Unit, in partnership with Ford, running very reliably while its deployment performance has turned heads.

They will join their 10 rival teams in Bahrain once again this week for three more days of pre-season testing before everyone heads to Australia for the season-opener on March 6-8.