Red Bull make key appointment after Max Verstappen team changes

Red Bull has made a key appointment to Isack Hadjar's side of the garage, following Jon Caller's move to Max Verstappen's camp. 

Ahead of the 2026 F1 season, there has been much change within the Milton Keynes-based outfit, particularly for Verstappen's race crew. 

Verstappen's former chief mechanic Matt Caller has departed to join Audi, with his two brother, Jon, taking on the role. 

Jon had been the chief mechanic for Yuki Tsunoda last year but his switch to Verstappen's side of the garage left a position to be filled for Hadjar. 

RacingNews365 understands that spot has now been filled by Red Bull, with mechanic Mike Payne to move from Aston Martin to fill the vacancy. Officially, Payne joined the Austrian organisation this month.

Payne is an experienced professional who had worked for Aston Martin from May 2021 until the end of last year, with six years having been spent in various positions for Williams before that.

On the race engineers front, nothing is changing for the new season. Verstappen will continue to work with Gianpiero Lambiase, while Hadjar has been paired with Richard Wood. 

Hadjar has worked with Wood since the post-season Abu Dhabi test, with the Frenchman did complete for the Milton Keynes-based team.

Wood is a Red Bull veteran within the Red Bull camp having joined the team in 2012. Across his time with the outfit, he has been its simulator performance engineer, race support engineer, strategy analyst and performance engineer.

He also served as a replacement race engineer for Sergio Perez at some races in 2024, while last year he worked with Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda full-time in the position.