Who is Stephen Knowles? All about Jonathan Wheatley's successor at Red Bull whom Max Verstappen defended in a heated exchange with Ted Kravitz

Max Verstappen and the Red Bull Formula 1 team had an eventful outing during the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix. He was asked by the team to give the place back to George Russell on lap 64 after an incident.

However, after the race, the FIA announced that Verstappen did not need to give Russell the place back. This error on the part of the team led to controversy and was highlighted by F1 reporter Ted Kravitz at the Canadian Grand Prix weekend.

Stephen Knowles (who has taken up some of Jonathan Wheatley's duties) is the Austrian outfit's Senior Race Strategy Engineer, who has done his Master's in Engineering from the University of Bath. He has been with the team for over three years. Before this, he spent nine years within the Mercedes Formula 1 team setup.

In line with Kravitz's question, Max Verstappen defended Stephen Knowles and added:

"I think it's not really nice to try and single out a person, to be honest, because that's never the case. I think we just look at it as a team, what we always can do better, and that's also how we look at it in Barcelona. But it's not fair to now single out one single person," Verstappen said, via Sky Sports.

The reigning Formula 1 world champion ultimately ended the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix in 10th place following a 10-second time penalty.

Max Verstappen does not see a 'podium' coming his way in Canadian GP

The 2025 Formula 1 season has proved quite troublesome for the Milton Keynes-based Red Bull team. After the first nine rounds, Max Verstappen is in third place in the Drivers' standings because of the issues with RB21.

The Dutchman has not been pleased with the challenger for most of the ongoing campaign, and in line with this, he believed that it would be difficult to score a podium at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit in the upcoming Canadian GP.

"It's a bit different this time around. [The McLarens] go faster. It's not even in my head. I'm more focusing on the other teams. I know that last year, for example, Mercedes was very strong here. I think if you compare last year to now, maybe they're more competitive as well. So, it will be hard enough to already fight for a podium," Verstappen said, via Motorsport.

The 2025 Formula 1 season has only 15 Grand Prix events remaining on the race calendar. If Max Verstappen is to get back in the Drivers' title fight, Stephen Knowles and Co. will have to do a potent job with the development of the inconsistent RB21.