Purple Bull veteran Formulation 1 chief designer Craig Skinner has left the Milton Keynes staff, Motorsport.com can affirm.
Skinner was an integral a part of its success in latest seasons, because it established a second period of dominance powering Max Verstappen to 4, consecutive titles from 2021 to 2024. Nonetheless, following rumours of his departure, Purple Bull confirmed to Motorsport.com that Skinner has moved on from the function. His exit is just not regarded as linked to earlier high-profile departures on the staff in recent times.
An engineering graduate from the College of Glasgow, Skinner went on to affix Purple Bull firstly of the 2006 season, across the similar time as design legend Adrian Newey, as a CFD engineer earlier than graduating to senior roles throughout the aerodynamics division. Following a four-year stint as chief of aerodynamics, Skinner turned the chief designer in 2022, working intently with Newey and technical director Pierre Wache.
Newey has since left for Aston Martin, and following the exit of former staff boss Christian Horner final July, Skinner is the most recent senior technical member to depart, with sporting director Jonathan Wheatley now heading up Audi’s F1 staff and chief strategist Will Courtenay transferring to McLaren.
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However beneath staff principal Laurent Mekies, the new-look Purple Bull loved a resurgence over the latter half of 2025, and it additionally made a promising begin to the 2026 pre-season. With help from Ford, Purple Bull’s RB22 options the squad’s first-ever in-house energy unit, which has defied expectations up to now – drawing reward for its environment friendly electrical vitality deployment.
However whereas praising the trouble the staff on the Milton Keynes campus had made, four-time world champion Verstappen hasn’t been a giant fan of the incoming rules but, calling the brand new automobiles “anti-racing” and “not enjoyable” to drive given the lengths drivers should go to with the intention to harvest electrical vitality.
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