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Who was Sergio Perez's race engineer during FP1 in Belgium?

Who was Perez's 'new' race engineer during FP1 in Belgium?

26 July at 14:30
  • Tim Kraaij

During the first free practice for the Belgian Grand Prix, Sergio Perez was not exactly happy with his car. The Mexican complained about the balance of his car on the team radio. However, the most striking thing was the race engineer who could be heard replying to Perez.

Hugh Bird used to be on the radio for Perez, but during the first free practice for the Belgian Grand Prix, a different voice could be heard in Perez's ear. Enquiries revealed that this was a temporary solution and not a permanent appointment.

Who is Perez's new race engineer?

Red Bull Racing has informed GPblog.com that Richard Wood was Perez's race engineer during FP1. He was the person who could be heard over the team radio during FP1. Wood is Perez's performance engineer. Hugh Bird was still on the pit wall in Belgium.

Richard Wood has been with Red Bull since 2012. He started in race strategy and became an analyst in 2013. In 2016, he was appointed Race Support Engineer and became a Simulator Performance Engineer in 2020. Since the start of 2021, Wood has been working as Perez's Performance Engineer.

Red Bull Racing often rotate engineers in free practice sessions. In 2023, for instance, Gianpiero Lambiase also delegated several sessions to the performance engineers of Max Verstappen. This was mainly to train those engineers, after which GP then took over again in the important sessions. Bird also did this for Perez this weekend.