Discover the impact and duties of Paul Monaghan, Red Bull’s pivotal Chief Engineer.
Paul Monaghan, the chief engineer at Red Bull Racing, is so pivotal that he was once considered a potential successor to a beleaguered Christian Horner.
Paul Monaghan, the chief engineer at Red Bull, is integral to the team. His journey started in automotive design, notably at McLaren F1 during the 1990s, where he crafted pedals for the tall Gerhard Berger, earning him the paddock nickname ‘Mr. Pedal.’
Despite his low profile, Monaghan, whose tenure at Red Bull was recently extended, humorously and modestly described his role in Milton Keynes to GP Blog: “I think I was the least bad option! It’s a great privilege to be here.”
But what does the day-to-day role of a chief engineer in today’s F1 involve? Can Monaghan share the details of his responsibilities at Red Bull Racing?
“You never really know what you’re going to face. You’re always learning something new. I’m privileged to have a rather broad role. Thus, anything that requires attention gets it. And it’s a good challenge. It can be a bit overwhelming at times.”
“It’s about the short term and the long term. Solving problems. Trying to help the car evolve. Trying to improve it in every possible way. Whether it’s reliability, performance, anything we can do operationally to enhance it. It doesn’t matter. It’s a race against nine other teams. And this race doesn’t slow down, doesn’t calm down. No one has sympathy for the others. So we must make the most of what we have each week.”
“For instance, as you might have noticed, the current cars are particularly sensitive to ride height, which corresponds to a ground effect vehicle. This is thus an evolution that has allowed us to learn what we could do with the previous generation of cars, mainly regarding the front ride height. Today, we have taken those lessons and are applying them to a larger part of the car. That’s just one example.”
“Always evaluate the situation and ask if you’re making the most of it. Most of the time, that’s the case, but if something is lacking, we may find something and improve it. If you identify minor improvements, implement them as soon as you can.”
Monaghan isn’t stationed in the offices of Adrian Newey or Pierre Waché, designing components. His role is more operational, yet his connection with Red Bull’s technical team is crucial.
“We need to provide feedback to the technical team. This can be in real-time during sessions if it’s immediate and serious, or it could be after a Grand Prix. You might wait until the next time significant changes are made to the car. That’s what yields the most in both the short and long term for the team; that’s the key takeaway.”
“I think the overall aerodynamic quality of our car is quite good. It has evolved over more than a decade to become increasingly effective. And look at the quality of the parts we are receiving now. It’s fantastic. That doesn’t mean we stop and say ‘oh, it’s good enough.’ There is still more to learn. There are other things to see. To avoid mistakes.”
The significance of the chief engineer’s role is also apparent by contrast: for example, during Max Verstappen’s withdrawal due to a component failure in Melbourne this year (a simple screw improperly tightened on the brake ducts).
“If I look back at what happened in Australia, the peak [of errors] started on Friday. It’s a series of events that need to occur in the right order. And at no point did we manage to interrupt it. So, lessons must be learned. It may be a bitter lesson, but we will take these lessons forward as a team.”
So, how can one concretely assess whether a part contributes on the track or not? Monaghan offers a practical example.
“Let me put you in the situation. You’re a race engineer. You have a new floor, a new front wing, and perhaps a new beam wing. Let’s take a few examples. You can conduct simulation work to determine how the behavior of your car will change compared to the previous race. The first thing to do is to run that part in different conditions in FP1 and think: OK, what am I working with?”
F1: A Constant Race for Development
Despite Red Bull’s dominance in Formula 1 over the past two years, Monaghan likens F1 to cycling: when you stop pedalling, you fall!
“I can’t influence what Ferrari does. I can’t influence what Mercedes does. We are masters of our own destiny. If the car stops during a session, we can’t learn from it anymore. We can learn what broke on the car or why it stopped. But we can’t necessarily develop it and evolve it further. That’s when we pay the price.”
“I remember being at a press conference in Monaco a few years ago, and someone asked me: Where will you qualify tomorrow? Well, I don’t know. But you are the fastest now, they said. That means nothing. I can’t tell you Ferrari will find a tenth, two tenths, three tenths there. And so what their pace will be on Saturday. All you can do is work with what you can control. And that’s our two cars and our team. If you don’t make the most of it, we will have lost performance. And if others are better than us, then we need to face ourselves. We can’t blame Ferrari for being fast or slow.”
Monaghan’s challenge will intensify in 2026 when Red Bull becomes its own engine manufacturer with Red Bull Powertrains. This will add another layer of complexity to manage… but Monaghan is very much looking forward to the challenge.
“If you look at everything Red Bull is investing, it would certainly be wonderful to compete with our own engine. It’s another new area for us where we can learn new things. We have more control over our own future. That’s what’s best for me right now.”
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Inside Look: Paul Monaghan’s Crucial Role at Red Bull Inside Look: Paul Monaghan’s Crucial Role at Red Bull
