OFFICIAL: Red Bull F1 suffer HUGE blow as shock retirement announced

Red Bull have been hit with a blow just weeks before the start of the 2025 Formula 1 season, with a star man leaving his role.

F1 teams have arrived in Bahrain for pre-season testing this week, with three days to tune their cars up on track before the season opens in Australia next month.

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The championship race is expected to be hotly contested, with 2024 constructors' champions McLaren hoping to defend their crown from Ferrari and the winners of the two previous championships, Red Bull, who have found a new team-mate to sit alongside four-time world champion Max Verstappen.

Now, however, a key ally of Verstappen's has left their role before pre-season testing in Bahrain, instead taking up an 'exciting' new position.

Red Bull star departs role

Mechanic Calum Nicholas has been in F1 for 13 seasons, overseeing all of Verstappen's championship successes, and the 2022 and 2023 constructors' championship wins for the Milton Keynes outfit.

Red Bull are attempting to get back into contention in the teams' standings in 2025, following a 2024 season in which they saw a huge drop-off in performance, falling behind both McLaren and Ferrari.

While Verstappen still won the drivers' championship, he suffered a 10-race winless run which allowed Lando Norris back into the fight, and Red Bull also lost a number of key staff members, including design legend Adrian Newey and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley.

Now Nicholas, who is also the author of Life in the Pitlane, has revealed to his fans on social media that he is leaving his role as senior engine technician, and instead becoming a Red Bull Racing ambassador.

"The time has come to hang up my race suit," the Brit said in an official statement. "15 years of racing as a mechanic, 13 Formula 1 seasons, 233 grands prix, four drivers' championships, two constructors' championships and seven consecutive pitstop awards, it's a career that I'm incredibly proud to look back on.

"To all of those who have been part of this amazing journey, thank you! For the last decade of my life I've been very fortunate to work with an incredible group of people, in a team like no other.

"So, today, I'm very pleased to announce that I'll be taking on an exciting new role, as a Red Bull Racing ambassador!"

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