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Red Bull have moved to fill the void left by Helmut Marko by poaching the man who helped build the very dynasty currently beating them. Gwen Lagrue, head of the Mercedes driver development programme and the scout instrumental in discovering championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli, is set to join Red Bull in a comparable role, according to BBC Sport.
The 50-year-old Frenchman will take charge of Red Bull's junior driver programme — the position Marko held for decades before leaving the team at the end of last season. Lagrue spent a decade at Mercedes, where his fingerprints are all over the Silver Arrows' recent driver pipeline. George Russell was the first signing made after Lagrue was appointed, joining the Mercedes junior programme in early 2017 and eventually earning a race seat with the team in 2022. Antonelli was recruited at just 11 years old, still karting, and developed under Lagrue before being fast-tracked into the Mercedes works car in 2025 as Lewis Hamilton's replacement.
That pipeline now looks devastating from Red Bull's perspective. Antonelli leads Hamilton by 45 points in the drivers' standings, having won six of the first ten races this season. Red Bull's own Max Verstappen sits seventh on 91 points, winless. The team's recent junior record has been far removed from the era that produced Vettel, Ricciardo and Verstappen himself.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, speaking after the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, confirmed talks are ongoing. "We're in discussions with Gwen about the future, but nothing's been agreed or decided yet," Wolff said, adding that the programme structure is being reshaped with Bradley Lord stepping up as deputy principal. No start date at Red Bull has been confirmed. Lagrue will link up with fellow Frenchman Laurent Mekies, the Red Bull team principal.