Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache has been under pressure amid the team’s general decline in results since fully inheriting all car design duties from Adrian Newey
Ted Kravitz reckons Red Bull’s recent resurgence could well have rescued the career of technical director Pierre Wache. The Frenchman has faced mounting scrutiny over the last 18 months during a turbulent spell for the Milton Keynes outfit.
Wache was pivotal in crafting the machinery that secured Max Verstappen’s second, third and fourth drivers’ championship crowns, while working under Adrian Newey. Yet, since the Brit’s departure, Red Bull’s star driver has been battling with inferior equipment compared to competitors Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Ahead of the summer season break, prospects appeared grim for both Wache and Red Bull. However, consecutive Grand Prix triumphs at Monza and Baku have rekindled confidence in the work that their main technical chief has been doing.
Verstappen currently sits 69 points adrift of championship leader Piastri with seven rounds left to run, offering him a narrow yet genuine opportunity to retain his title. And Sky Sports pit lane reporter Kravitz believes the team’s upturn in form and results since their latest upgrades reflects well on Wache
“I think he’s been… justified is maybe the wrong word, but vindicated in sorting out this car,” Kravitz said. “I think we should have a positive word to say about Pierre Wache, the Red Bull technical director, and his troops.
“It was looking a bit touch-and-go as to whether he was going to be able to: A, turn the car around, and B, if not, hold onto his job. Not only has he done the first, but that means he’s very much done the second. I’ve got to say well done to him, because there must be a lot of pressure off him personally.
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“They had that dip – they were good at the beginning of the year, they were not good in the middle of the year, now they’re good again. I think he found the pressure of his job a little bit difficult, as anybody would, and I think it’s good, personally for him, that he’s managed to turn it around.”
According to a report from GPBlog, Wache caused a stir in the Verstappen camp earlier this year when he hinted that Red Bull could take lessons from the progress of sister squad Racing Bulls. The Dutch driver was even tipped for a switch away from the outfit amid interest from Mercedes, but chose to remain for 2026.
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Red Bull’s recent resurgence has aligned with the start of new team boss Laurent Mekies’ reign. The 48-year-old took over from long-standing chief Christian Horner following the British Grand Prix and witnessed a sprint triumph at his debut weekend in Belgium, before claiming two more silverware pieces in Monza and Baku.
Nevertheless, Mekies reckons his squad will struggle to maintain their latest form. He said: “After trying to take it to the next step, we will be back at tracks with medium speed corners, where we were killed by McLaren two races ago in Zandvoort. The gap was very significant. Also in Spa, we left Spa thinking that they were half a second faster than us, even though Max won the Sprint. So that’s the next set of answers we will be chasing.”