Milton Keynes: New Era for Racing Bulls Operations

Racing Bulls relocates to Milton Keynes, aligning closer with Red Bull’s main team for enhanced collaboration and cutting-edge innovation.

Racing Bulls moved into its new quarters in Milton Keynes at the start of January. Red Bull’s second team left its aging Bicester factory (an annex to its main facility in Faenza) to integrate into Red Bull’s factory on a separate site.

Peter Bayer, the team’s CEO, explained before the holidays that work would begin in early January at the new premises to prepare for the 2025 season and fully launch the 2026 car project.

“The Milton Keynes office is ready,” Bayer said. “IT specialists are setting it up, building it, because the goal is for everything to be ready so that staff, during the shutdown, can move in and be operational from January 2, ensuring no time is lost in development, modeling workshops, wind tunnel operations, and everything else.”

“There will be no losses, and it will be a game-changer as it is a state-of-the-art facility. Bicester is still, more or less, the old Reynard factory. We added some new offices and new carpet, but that’s about it.”

“There’s no parking, no canteen, no supermarket to buy food. The gym is tiny and outdated. It’s simply no longer up to standard. It’s also too small for us, really.”

“We don’t have enough space. People like Jody [Egginton, Technical Director] and Alan [Permane, Sporting Director], when both are in the office, share a desk the size of this table, sitting back-to-back. I think part of an employer’s appeal is obviously having good working facilities, and that’s what’s about to change.”

Racing Bulls has carefully considered every detail to make its new facility an attractive place for recruitment: “A nice office doesn’t necessarily guarantee working hours, but it immediately makes us a more appealing employer.”

“At Milton Keynes, we’ll have a good canteen. For now, we won’t have a gym, but we’ll have an agreement with a local gym where the team can go until ours is ready.”

“The modeling workshop, with new state-of-the-art machines, will also be cutting-edge, and we’re investing in new CFD facilities. This could, and should, give us a small boost for 2025.”

The restructuring initiated last year within the team will also play a key role in development: “I think the biggest impact on the 2025 car likely comes from some of the changes we’ve made to our processes.”

“Some of the people we’ve managed to bring in to strengthen key areas where we want to improve. The facilities will follow a bit later since we’re moving in January. As you know, everyone stops 2025 development relatively early.”

Bayer explains that work on the 2026 car has already begun this January, but the 2025 car will still see updates: “Typically, on January 1 or 2, we’ll start running the 2026 model in the wind tunnel, but not exclusively. We’re not shelving the 2025 model.”

“But you will seize the first opportunity the FIA gives you on January 2 to run that model. After that, yes, the 2025 car will go back into the wind tunnel, but likely for a limited time. Still, it’s a fantastic facility and will, of course, give the team a real chance to compete against the manufacturers.”

The goal of leaving the Bicester factory is also to enable work across all areas: “What we have consciously decided, rightly or wrongly, is to move away from the model where aerodynamics is based in Bicester and the rest in Italy. That’s over.”

“Now, we are trying to view the company as location-free. If we want to hire someone, we take the best women or men for the job. If they’re in Italy or Europe, we hire in Europe. If they’re in the UK, we hire in the UK.”

“We have a race engineer based in the UK, and the race engineer for the other car is in Europe, so that’s how we’re approaching things. It’s a change. We believed it was the best way to turn a logistical disadvantage into an advantage when recruiting staff.”

“We’ve managed to poach a few people from top teams purely for personal reasons—because one might want to return to live in the UK, or another wants to start a new life in Italy. We’re trying to turn that into an advantage.”