Guenther Steiner believes Red Bull has pulled off one of the paddock’s smartest signings by luring Mercedes junior programme chief Gwen Lagrue to Milton Keynes as Helmut Marko’s successor.
Mercedes confirmed the departure of its long-serving junior head, Lagrue, last month, wishing him well for the future but without confirming his next destination.
Guenther Steiner reacts to Gwen Lagrue’s Red Bull move
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Lagrue joined Mercedes a decade ago and helped guide several drivers, including the team’s current line-up of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, into Formula 1.
The team took to social media to write: “Thank you Gwen. It’s been a great ride together.
“Together, we’ve developed many young drivers, including our current F1 drivers George and Kimi, and you’ve made a fantastic contribution.
“We have built a true successor to the original Mercedes-Benz junior team, and you leave in place a talented group to carry on this work.
“Professional relationships may come to an end, but we will always remain friends, with a shared mindset.
“We wish you well for your next challenge.”
That next challenge is understood to be Red Bull.
Last year Red Bull bid farewell to its long-serving driver advisor, Marko, with Lagrue tipped to step into that role.
It is unclear when he will be free to join Red Bull, but former F1 team boss Steiner says it’s a coup for Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies to have signed him.
Speaking on The Red Flags Podcast, Steiner said: “I was quite surprised that he’s leaving Mercedes.
“They [Red Bull] must have made him a very good offer because he’s very close to the guys [there].
“I think he’s [great at] spotting talent and knowing what’s going on in all the series. Gwen has been doing it longer than anybody else. Therefore, he has got that advantage, and he knows what he’s looking for.
“So absolutely, that was a very good hire by Laurent to get Gwen there for the future.”
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Lagrue’s role at Mercedes is likely be filled by a reshuffle of the existing young driver programme.
Speaking about the rumours ahead of the confirmation that Lagrue would be leaving Mercedes, the Brackley squad’s team principal Toto Wolff said: “Gwen has built up a fantastic team.
“We have about seven, eight or nine people running the junior programme going forward, along with a handful of juniors, and with Bradley [Lord] stepping up as deputy team principal.
“These things need to be worked out now. We want to do it together with Gwen, and then we’ll see.”
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