Who is Alan Permane? All about Racing Bull's new 'no-nonsense' team boss

Alan Permane has been named as the new Racing Bulls team principal amid a reshuffle that has seen Laurent Mekies move to Red Bull as their new chief after Christian Horner's sacking. But who is Alan Permane?

Relatively unknown in the mainstream, Alan Permane's reputation precedes him. Known for his 'no-nonsense' attitude, the Briton will now lead the Red Bull sister team. So let us discover more about the man.

---

Who is Alan Permane?

Alan Permane was born on February 4 1967, in Walton, United Kingdom.

He first entered the F1 world as a teenager in 1989, when he joined the Benetton F1 team in a factory-based role. His success in the role saw him move away from the factory and become part of the test team in the capacity of an electronic engineer.

By 1990, Permane was already part of the race team, and was a part of the squad which claimed the 1995 constructors' championship. Benetton also enjoyed two drivers' titles in 1995 and 1996, with Michael Schumacher claiming his first two championships.

In 1996, Permane was promoted to serve as the junior race engineer to Jean Alesi, and then became a race engineer in 1997. He remained in this role through Benetton's transition into Renault, and was also with the team during their championship triumphs in 2005 and 2006 as Giancarlo Fisichella's race engineer.

After this, he became the chief race engineer at Renault in 2007, before being given the title of Chief Operating Officer in 2011.

The Enstone-based team was again renamed, this time to Lotus in 2012, and Permane was named the Sporting Director. In 2013, the world first heard the first example of his 'no-nonsense' approach, when he told Kimi Raikkonen to 'move out of the fu**ing way' for teammate Romain Grosjean at the Indian Grand Prix.

He retained his role of Sporting Director when Lotus transitioned back to Renault in 2015, and also when they rebranded to Alpine in 2021. But he was let go from his role in 2023, the same time as team boss Otmar Szafnauer. This ended a 34-year stay at Enstone for Permane.

He then joined the Racing Bulls outfit as the Racing Director in 2024, before being promoted to team principal in July 2025.

---

What Alan Permane said about asking Kimi Raikkonen to "move out of the f***ing way" at the 2013 Indian GP

Alan Permane with Renault at the 2020 Winter Testing in Barcelona - Source: Getty

Speaking in 2020, Alan Permane reflected on his famous radio message to Kimi Raikkonen at the 2013 Indian GP, when he asked the former world champion to "move out of the f***ing way" for teammate Romain Grosjean.

Speaking on the Beyond The Grid podcast in 2020, Permane admitted having some regrets about sending that message out.

"Would I change the way I handled it now? Probably, definitely," Permane said. "But I think at the time there was a frustration there, there was a feeling that Kimi was being selfish and wasn’t putting the team where he could have put the team, so that’s where that came from and that’s history."

Another famous radio message of Permane's came at the 2006 Australian GP, when he gave Giancarlo Fisichella a hurry-up in brutal fashion, further highlighting the 58-year-old's straightforward approach.

"Giancarlo you are still 2 seconds a lap slower than Fernando. This cannot be possible. I know you've got some understeer but you cannot be 2 seconds a lap slower, come on!," Permane told Fisichella.

Permane's first assignment as team principal will be at the upcoming Belgian GP. RB has seemingly good race pace in 2025, with Isack Hadjar having emerged as one of the rookies of the season.

Edited by pranavsethii