Mercedes has confirmed the departure of Gwen Lagrue, its former junior driver programme boss, forward of the Frenchman’s impending Pink Bull swap.
As beforehand reported by Motorsport.com over the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, long-standing junior driver guru Lagrue is known to be becoming a member of the Pink Bull Components 1 staff in an analogous position.
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Neither social gathering commented on the transfer till Monday afternoon, when Mercedes formally confirmed on its social media channels that Lagrue can be departing the Silver Arrows.
“Thanks Gwen. It has been a fantastic journey collectively,” Mercedes wrote in its farewell message. “Collectively, we have developed many younger drivers, together with our present F1 drivers George [Russell] and Kimi [Antonelli], and you’ve got made a implausible contribution.
“We’ve constructed a real successor to the unique Mercedes-Benz junior staff, and you allow in place a gifted group to hold on this work. Skilled relationships might come to an finish, however we’ll all the time stay mates, with a shared mindset. We want you nicely in your subsequent problem.”
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That subsequent problem is anticipated to be Pink Bull, the place he would carry out an analogous position filling the void created by the retirement of long-time driver advisor Helmut Marko on the finish of final 12 months.
Beneath Lagrue’s tenure, Mercedes introduced the likes of Esteban Ocon and George Russell to F1 by the Mercedes junior programme.
Kimi Antonelli, who was noticed by Lagrue in go-karting on the age of 11, was the newest prospect that Mercedes fast-tracked by the single-seater ranks, culminating in an F1 debut on the age of 18 and title profitable kind in his sophomore 12 months this season.
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“With Kimi, I observed fairly shortly he was already a bit completely different than different children in karting,” Lagrue informed Motorsport.com final 12 months. “However again then my thought was: ‘Okay, he is the very best one I can have in go-karts’, not even eager about Components 1.
“Then after we did the primary take a look at in single-seaters, the way in which he tailored himself so shortly to just about each scenario you began seeing that you’ve got somebody very particular.”
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Pink Bull set to rent Mercedes F1 junior boss Gwen Lagrue
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