Newly promoted RB boss, Alan Permane seeks merely to build on the progress made by former boss Laurent Mekies and CEO Peter Bayer.

Permane, who spent 35 years at Enstone, progressing from the role of test electronics engineer in 1989 to Sporting Director with Alpine in 2023, joined RB at the start of last season as Racing Director.

Earlier this month, in the aftermath of Christian Horner's sacking, while team principal Laurent Mekies headed to Milton Keynes to take control of Red Bull, Permane was appointed team principal at RB.

Ahead of his first weekend as a team boss, the 58-year-old admits that he was shocked by the promotion.

"I had many reactions to the news, some shock, some pride," he admits to Motorsport.com. "It's amazing that they feel I'm capable and have the potential to lead this team," he continued. "I deeply thank the Red Bull Austria senior management, Oliver Mintzlaff and Helmut Marko, and, of course, Laurent for recommending me, pushing me forward, his belief in me as well."

Although currently seventh in the strandings, RB is involved in the titanic battle of the midfield which sees Williams, Stake, Aston Martin, Haas and the Faenza outfit covered by just 30 points.

"The plan of action is to keep things as they are," says Permane. "Laurent and Peter have done a fantastic job with this team over the last 18 months, leading to a surge in competitiveness. And my plan is to keep that running, keep the team on the same trajectory as it's been on.

"It's a great team," he adds, "and I know that the senior Red Bull guys are extremely happy with the way the team is being run. They're very happy with our competitiveness.

"The target is to be top of the midfield, and we are certainly in a battle for that and we'll continue that fight throughout this year."

Previously, as was with the case with the various iterations at Enstone, Permane's role was mostly UK-based, now the Briton will need to spend more time in Italy at the team's Faenza base.

"It's certainly going to mean some more travel," he admits. "In my previous role as racing director, I did spend some time in Italy, but it will no doubt mean I will split my time between the two sites. Probably a little bit more on the Faenza side, where that larger part of the team is."

Asked about the transition from sporting director to team principal, he says: "Sporting director gives you a decent grounding. It's a much bigger role, of course. As a sporting director, you manage a group of 60 or 70 people. You sit on FIA committees. You work with the FIA, with stewards, with penalties and protests and things like that. So, you have a very good grounding and basis to take this job on, but it's of course a much bigger role.

"There will be many things that are new, but I'm very ready to take it on and then I'm confident I'll do a good job."

As for the role he has vacated...

"At the moment we won't fill it," he says. "We won't change things immediately Mattia (Spini) will step up, he's an excellent chief race engineer, and he's keen to do more, and he certainly has the capability to do more.

"Inevitably, I will be involved a bit more in that side of the business than Laurent was, certainly at the start, just making sure that that transition is as smooth as it can be. But I don't have any worries on that side. The track side team between Milton Keynes and Faenza is very strong."