Formula 1 McLaren Imola March testing
RB sets end-of-2024 date for new Milton Keynes facility
RB Formula 1 boss Laurent Mekies says the team will move into its new aerodynamics facility next to the Red Bull campus in Milton Keynes by the end of 2024.
Matt Kew Roberto Chinchero
Edited: Mar 18, 2024, 7:42 AM
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The team’s headquarters will remain in Faenza, Italy, where it has been based since Minardi was founded in the late 1970s, but it will vacate the diminutive aerodynamics site in Bicester.
This follows a switch for 2022 when RB, then competing under the AlphaTauri moniker, moved to using sister team Red Bull’s larger-scale wind tunnel.
It is hoped that the improved UK infrastructure will attract more staff in England, and Mekies reckons the Milton Keynes site will be up and running by the end of the year.
In an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com's Italian edition, Mekies said: “I will start by saying that we have not asked any engineers to move to England.
“Faenza is the historic home of the team and is also a fairly modern facility, which has also enjoyed fairly recent investment. We have very good production tools here and a large part of the design office.
Laurent Mekies, Team Principal, RB F1 Team
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
“In Bicester, we have the aero department, concept design and part of the design office – all in a location chosen to be close to the wind tunnel.
“Fifteen years ago, the team was smaller than it is today, and Bicester made sense. Today, the aero department has tripled in size; we no longer use this tunnel because we have another one, and the location is no longer suitable.
“So, we will leave it at the end of the year and move to a new facility in Milton Keynes, next to the Red Bull campus.”
Rival teams, led by McLaren’s Zak Brown, have raised concerns about Red Bull's common ownership of two teams allowing the F1 squads to be more financially efficient under the cost cap.
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The move to Milton Keynes has also led to some speculation over personnel moving between RB and Red Bull. But Mekies has shut this rumour down.
He said: “The regulations are very clear. It is very well defined that you cannot use the transfer of personnel to bypass the regulation regarding [intellectual property]. So, you cannot move a person from team A to team B in order to transfer knowledge.
“Now, in our case, I can say that these transfers were infrequent, but every time there was a transfer we asked the FIA whether the move of a technician or an engineer in a specific role was to be considered in line with what was specified in the regulation. And we have always acted only after receiving the OK from the FIA."
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