APRIL 27, 2006

Red Bull goes shopping in Woking (again)

Red Bull Racing has struck again and is hiring McLaren's Team Leader of Operational Research, Neil Martin. Martin will become RBR's head of strategic operations at Milton Keynes.

A career McLaren man, Martin has been responsible for the direction of McLaren strategic development both in terms of the technology and the race strategies. Martin was briefly in the spotlight last year at Monaco when he helped Kimi Raikkonen win the race by doing the opposite of what was expected when a Safety Car interrupted the event.

The loss of Martin is the latest in a series of blows to McLaren and follows the hiring of Adrian Newey and aerodynamicist Peter Prodromou. The team has also lost Nicholas Tombazis to Ferrari.