‘It feels like home’ – Senior Red Bull figure opens up on new F1 contract extension

Paul Monaghan has said Red Bull “feels like home” as he explained his decision to re-sign with Milton Keynes.

Red Bull recently confirmed the extension of the contract of Paul Monaghan, amongst many other technical staff, and the engineer has explained his choice.

In May, Red Bull chief engineer Paul Monaghan became the latest member of the team’s technical staff to sign a contract extension – following on from Pierre Waché signing a new deal in February and the confirmation of aero chief Enrico Balbo and head of performance engineering Ben Waterhouse over the winter.

Paul Monaghan: ‘Is the grass greener elsewhere? I don’t know’

The confirmation of so many key figures within the Red Bull technical structure has been an indication of the stability within the organisation at a key time as chief technical officer Adrian Newey handed in his resignation letter – the figurehead designer will exit Red Bull entirely by the middle of 2025.

There had been plenty of speculation about potential new destinations for Red Bull’s leading staff, with rivals seeking to capitalise upon the destabilising factor of Newey’s departure, only for those doors to shut one by one.

Monaghan re-signed his commitment to Red Bull in early May, marking almost two consecutive decades with the Milton Keynes-based squad as he first joined the team in 2005.

Sitting down with PlanetF1.com and RacingNews365.com for a collaborative interview over the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, Monaghan laughed when asked why he’d decided Red Bull continued to be the place he wishes to be for the foreseeable future.

“Do you want a serious answer or the flippant one?!” he joked, before considering the question more seriously.

“It felt like the right thing to do, is the simple conclusion.

“And yeah, it’s good, bad, indifferent – is the grass greener on the other side? I don’t know. I don’t know.”

With Red Bull set to become fully independent as an F1 and power unit manufacturer as its home-grown Red Bull Power Trains programme begins production, Monaghan said he couldn’t imagine leaving “home” to not see that transition through.

“You look at what’s coming over the next few years and the people I know… faces come and go, but it’s kind of become home, hasn’t it?” he said.

“2026, we’re autonomous, aren’t we? What an opportunity! What a wonderful investment that Red Bull is making…for us to do our own engine? It’s mad, isn’t it, but brilliant!”

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As for what he enjoys so much about the challenge of working for Red Bull after almost two decades working for Christian Horner’s outfit, Monaghan said he has never felt like his job has been a “real one”.

“Ultimately, what I want is… it’s not going to be a cruise, is it? It’s going to be hard work,” he said.

“It’s going to be a lot of hours, and it’s going to be weekends, all that sort of thing.

“You kind of accept that when you enter this pool but, primarily, what I set out wanting was to enjoy it. Would it be as enjoyable elsewhere, would it be more… I don’t know.

“But everything I’ve got here makes it fun, makes it enjoyable. You get up in the morning and think ‘Yes! It’s not a real job…’

“I read a quote somewhere: ‘Find something you love doing and you’ll never do a day’s work in your life’.

“Well, it goes towards that – good, bad, indifferent, good or bad days, I like the people I work with. I don’t know whether they like me, they’re probably quite the opposite! But I enjoy it.”

Monaghan’s sentiments towards Red Bull closely echo those of his colleague Pierre Waché, with the technical director also explaining to PlanetF1.com why he put pen to paper with a new deal at Milton Keynes – the Frenchman had been the subject of rumours linking him to a switch to Ferrari earlier this year.

“Personally, because it’s a team – it’s not a company,” he said.

“We are not corporate and we are leaving the people freedom to develop themselves and to act as themselves. This is not the case in every company and team.

“What Adrian and Christian have developed as a team is still a race team. We still have the racing mentality aspect and we are taking risks – Red Bull, as a parent company, has a massive trust in the system and never puts pressure on us in a bad way.

“We are winning together and we are losing together – I think this is something you don’t find somewhere else.”

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