Alan Permane has never been in charge of a Formula 1 team in 35 years in the sport, but three drivers have indicated he is the perfect fit to lead Racing Bulls.
Permane has stepped into the breach at Red Bull’s satellite outfit with Laurent Mekies moving over to replace Christian Horner at Milton Keynes.
An esteemed engineer with over three decades of experience, Permane has been entrusted with the Team Principal role with the Faenza-based squad, starting with this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.
All but two of his years in F1 have been spent in Enstone, working for the number of teams that have been based there, which started out as Benetton.
After departing Alpine midway through 2023, Permane’s expertise were snapped up by RB, becoming its Racing Director last year.
But with Mekies now being called up to the lead Red Bull squad, Permane is now in his first-ever role of leading a team from the front.
However, there is little doubting his capabilities to be Team Principal, or so according to a few of the current drivers on the grid.
Despite admitting Mekies “has been very, very good” at leading Racing Bulls, Liam Lawson told media including Motorsport Week: “I don’t think we’ve lost anything with regards to Alan filling his position.”
F1 veterans vouch for Permane to be ideal Racing Bulls boss
Permane has worked with a number of iconic drivers, including Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso.
The Spaniard, who worked with Permane in his title-winning stint with Renault, and latterly back at Alpine, was keen to praise Permane upon his promotion.
When asked about what it’s like to see former colleagues Jonathan Wheatley and Steve Neilsen, as well as Permane, now handed top roles at Sauber and Alpine respectively, Alonso told media including Motorsport Week that it was “great to see.”
The Aston Martin driver added: Obviously, I worked with the three of them. And with Alan, particularly — I worked two times with him, also when I came back to Alpine. So, yeah, happy for them, happy for him.
“They have a lot of experience, but also, they have maybe the leadership capacity and qualities that you need these days.”
Nico Hulkenberg also spent time working with Permane during his time at Renault, and, like Alonso, offered him his compliments.
“Yeah, some time at Renault,” he said to media including Motorsport Week. “Obviously, [Alan] has been around so long, so much experience — so, great opportunity for him to put that all to work. Happy for him and wish him best of luck.”
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