New Racing Bulls boss Permane ‘shocked and proud’ as he takes up challenge

The surprise ousting of Christian Horner after 20 years at the Red Bull helm has also had knock-on effect within the wider Red Bull family.

With Laurent Mekies named as Horner’s replacement, Red Bull’s management turned to Racing Bulls racing director and paddock veteran Alan Permane to fill the role as team principal, overseeing the Anglo-Italian squad’s 700 staff across Milton Keynes in the UK and Faenza in Italy.

From its Benetton guise through Renault, Lotus and Alpine, Permane was a stalwart at team Enstone as an engineer and sporting director, before leaving the team exactly two years ago.

He was then snapped up by Racing Bulls in January 2024 as its new racing director, adding his three-decade experience to a squad commissioned by Red Bull to forge its own identity and vie for the top of the midfield.

Having been involved in the series since 1989, 58-year-old Permane has seen it all, but becoming a team principal was not on his horizon and took him by surprise.

“I had many reactions to the news, some shock, some pride,” Permane told Autosport in an exclusive interview.

“It’s amazing that they feel I’m capable and have the potential to lead this team. I deeply thank the Red Bull Austria senior management, Oliver Mintzlaff and Helmut Marko, and, of course, Laurent for recommending me, pushing me forward, his belief in me as well. It’s been a great week.”

Permane has had just two weeks to get his feet under his new desk before heading to this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix. However, he feels that the solid structure Mekies and CEO Peter Bayer have put in place, which has allowed Racing Bulls to become a more competitive midfield force, means he doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel either.

“Well, the plan of action is to keep things as they are,” he pointed out. “Laurent and Peter have done a fantastic job with this team over the last 18 months, leading to a surge in competitiveness. And my plan is to keep that running, keep the team on the same trajectory as it’s been on.

“It’s a great team and I know that the senior Red Bull guys are extremely happy with the way the team is being run. They’re very happy with our competitiveness. The target is to be top of the midfield, and we are certainly in a battle for that and we’ll continue that fight throughout this year.

“From my side, it’s certainly going to mean some more travel. I’m predominantly based in Milton Keynes. In my previous role as racing director, I did spend some time in Italy, but it will no doubt mean I will split my time between the two sites. Probably a little bit more on the Faenza side, where that larger part of the team is.”

A serious challenge ahead

Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls Team

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

Permane feels his extensive experience as a sporting director has given him a solid background to slot into the top job, though he is not underestimating the challenge of going from leading a trackside team to sitting at the top of two factories housing over 700 staff.

“I think sporting director gives you a decent grounding,” he explained. “It’s a much bigger role, of course. As a sporting director, you manage a group of 60 or 70 people. You sit on FIA committees. You work with the FIA, with stewards, with penalties and protests and things like that. So, you have a very good grounding and basis to take this job on, but it’s of course a much bigger role.

“There will be many things that are new, but I’m very ready to take it on and then I’m confident I’ll do a good job.”

Racing Bulls will not appoint a direct replacement for the role of racing director for the time being. Instead, chief race engineer Mattia Spini will be taking on additional duties. “At the moment we won’t fill it. We won’t change things immediately,” Permane explained.

“Mattia will step up, and he’s an excellent chief race engineer, and he’s keen to do more, and he certainly has the capability to do more. Inevitably, I will be involved a bit more in that side of the business than Laurent was, certainly at the start, just making sure that that transition is as smooth as it can be. But I don’t have any worries on that side. The track side team between Milton Keynes and Faenza is very strong.”

Paddock support

In response to the news, Sauber chief Jonathan Wheatley posted a picture of him and Permane toasting with a glass of champagne in the Benetton garage as they celebrated their 1995 title success with Michael Schumacher.

Permane and Wheatley became close friends during their time at the team, and in a stroke of serendipity they will now compete against each other as two of F1’s 11 team principals.

“We’ve grown up together,” Permane said. “We both worked on Michael’s car. In those days I was an electronics engineer, Jonathan was number two mechanic. And that’s where our friendship started. We worked together for many years, Benetton, then Renault, and then of course he’s moved on to Red Bull and now to Audi.”

Asked if he ever harboured any team boss ambitions like Wheatley, who left Red Bull to take the Sauber gig, he replied: “Honestly, no. I’ve been much more of a technical or a sporting guy.

“But now it’s happened, I’m relishing it. It’s going to be a great challenge for me and I’m really looking forward to it.”