Red Bull have confirmed the appointment of the Mercedes driver scout involved in discovering Kimi Antonelli to head up their young driver programme.
Frenchman Gwen Lagrue’s move was revealed by BBC Sport earlier this month.
On Monday, Red Bull released a statement announcing the 50-year-old’s signing as director of their junior programme, adding he would join the team in 2027.
Lagrue has been recruited essentially as a replacement for Helmut Marko, who retired from his long-time role as Red Bull’s motorsport adviser at the end of last year.
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said in a statement: “Gwen is one of the very best talent developers in F1 and I know first-hand the expertise, leadership and passion he brings to developing young drivers.
“The Red Bull Junior Programme has always been a cornerstone of Red Bull’s success, and having Gwen lead it soon reflects the importance we continue to place on developing the next generation of F1 talent.”
Mekies paid tribute to Marko for his “extraordinary contribution over more than two decades creating and leading the junior programme”, praising the Austrian former F1 driver’s “vision, commitment and ability to identify and develop exceptional talents”.
Lagrue said in the statement: “After 11 memorable years at Mercedes, I felt this was the right moment to take on a new challenge and continue growing personally and professionally.
“The Red Bull Junior Programme is one of the most respected and successful driver development programmes in motorsport.
“It has produced some of the greatest talents F1 has ever seen, and it is a real honour to have the opportunity to lead such a talented group of people and help shape its next chapter.
“Together, we have a fantastic framework to build on the programme’s remarkable legacy, continue to evolve it for the future, and identify, develop and prepare the next generation of F1 race winners and World Champions, following a pattern Red Bull Racing has successfully repeated over the past 20 years.”
The Red Bull junior programme’s most successful products have been four-time champion Sebastian Vettel and eight-time winner Daniel Ricciardo.
Current Williams drivers Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz also came through the programme, although Albon was dropped in 2016 – after which he was given personal assistance by Lagrue – before being re-instated for his F1 debut in 2019.
The announcement comes after Mercedes and Red Bull reached an agreement that has released Lagrue from his existing contract as driver development adviser to the Mercedes F1 team.
At Mercedes, his role will be filled by a minor reshuffle of the existing young-driver programme, arguably the most effective in F1.
Bradley Lord, who was already involved, was recently promoted to deputy team principal from his previous position as communications director and senior adviser to team principal Toto Wolff.
And Mercedes have a team of up to 10 people analysing the junior categories, right down to the very junior levels of karting to find promising new talent.
George Russell was Lagrue’s first signing for the team following his appointment, a few months after the Briton famously approached Wolff and gave him a PowerPoint presentation arguing his case to be part of the Mercedes junior programme.
The Briton has been supported by Mercedes since then as he completed the junior categories, was seconded to Williams for an F1 debut in 2019 and then promoted to Mercedes in 2022.
Mercedes signed Antonelli when he was an 11-year-old racing in go-karts and he has been mentored by Mercedes through an accelerated programme that saw him replace Lewis Hamilton in the team when the seven-time champion joined Ferrari at the start of 2025.
Antonelli is this year proving his billing as a generational talent in dominating the F1 world championship in only his second season.
The 19-year-old has won five races and set six pole positions in 10 grands prix so far this season before Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix and is leading Russell by 25 points.
Among other successes at Mercedes while Lagrue has been running the young-driver programme are Frenchman Esteban Ocon, who was their junior driver and has been managed by them through his 10-year career in F1 at Manor, Force India, Renault/Alpine and now Haas, and their current F1 reserve driver, the Dane Frederik Vesti.
