Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has confirmed that Guillaume Rocquelin will be moving on from his role as Head of Race Engineering after this weekend's Australian Grand Prix. Rocquelin, otherwise known as 'Rocky', started out at Red Bull as David Coulthard's Race Engineer back in 2006 and has become an integral part of the team's engineering set-up over the years. He engineered Sebastian Vettel from 2009 to 2014, helping the German to secure four successive world titles, before stepping up to his current role, which yielded another championship triumph with Max Verstappen last season.
'Rocky' to take on a new role at Red Bull
With rumours of a change swirling around the paddock in Melbourne, Horner confirmed that Rocquelin will be taking on a new role at Red Bull, aimed at supporting their junior drivers. "The engineering team is continuing to evolve, especially as we have to look at efficiencies with the budget cap and so on," Horner explained to media, including RacingNews365.com , as he referenced the tightening cost cap. "Rocky has done an amazing job trackside for us over the years, race engineering Sebastian to all of his race victories and World Championships, and obviously leading the engineering team to last year's success as well. "He is going to evolve and take on a new role working with our plethora of young drivers, where we'll be looking to utilise all his experience, working with so many drivers and with so much engineering background. "[He will] continue to develop the Red Bull drivers and very much take a leading role in that project and how they integrate into Red Bull Racing, and applying scientific tools to that as well."
Verstappen's engineer set to step up
Gianpiero Lambiase, who currently serves as Verstappen's Race Engineer, will step up to become Red Bull's new Head of Race Engineering. Verstappen previously claimed he would quit Formula 1 if Lambiase ever moved on from his role , but Horner clarified that there will be no change for the Dutchman, with duties set to be combined. "It's an exciting, new challenge for Rocky. It will be his last race weekend here [in Australia] before he moves on to that role and the restructure," added Horner, confirming the timeframe for the move. "We will see 'GP' taking a step up to become the lead engineer trackside, while still maintaining the role as Max's Race Engineer. "It's evolution, it's great to see that within the team, and I think that both of the guys are going to excel in their next roles."
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