Mercedes driver scout involved in scouting Kimi Antonelli to join Red Bull

The Mercedes driver scout involved in the discovery of Kimi Antonelli is leaving the team to join rivals Red Bull.

Frenchman Guen Lagrue, 50, is to take up a new role at the helm of Red Bull’s driver development program.

Lagrue has been appointed as a replacement for Helmut Marko Retired from his long-time role as Red Bull’s motorsport advisor At the end of last year.

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mackies, Mercedes and Lagrue themselves declined to comment when contacted by BBC Sport.

It’s unclear when Lagrue will be free to take on his new role.

Mercedes and Red Bull are in the process of negotiating a deal that would release him from his existing contract as a driver development advisor to the Mercedes F1 team.

At Mercedes, his role will likely be filled by a minor overhaul of the existing young-driver program, arguably the most effective in F1.

Bradley Lord, who was already involved, was recently promoted to Deputy Team Principal from his previous position as Director of Communications and Senior Advisor to Team Principal Toto Wolff.

Mercedes has a team of 10 people who analyze the junior categories, down to the very junior level of karting, to find promising new talent.

Lagrue worked at Mercedes for a decade.

George Russell was the first signing for the team following his appointment, a few months later the Brit famously contacted Wolff and gave him a PowerPoint presentation on being part of the Mercedes junior programme.

Russell has since been backed by Mercedes as he completed the junior divisions, backed by Williams for an F1 debut in 2019 and then promoted to Mercedes in 2022.

Mercedes signed Antonelli when he was racing go-karts at the age of 11 and was mentored by Mercedes through an accelerated program when he joined seven-time champions Ferrari at the start of 2025.

Antonelli is proving to be a generational talent by dominating the F1 World Championship in his second season.

The 19-year-old has won five races and set six pole positions in 10 grands prix so far this season and leads Russell by 25 points ahead of Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.

Other successes at Mercedes when Lagrue ran the young-driver program included Frenchman Esteban Ocon, who was their junior driver and has been managed by them through his 10-year career at Manor, Force India, Renault/Alpine and now Haas, and their current F1 reserve driver, Dane Frédéric Vesti.

Lagrue personally supported current Williams driver Alex Albon when he dropped Marco from Red Bull’s driver development program in 2016.

He assisted Albon with career advice and sourcing budgets until the Anglo-Thai rejoined Red Bull for his F1 debut in 2019 with a second team, Toro Rosso.