by VALERIO BARRETTA
The diaspora in Red Bull
Adrian Newey at Aston Martin, Jonathan Wheatley at Audi, Rob Marshall and Will Courtenay at McLaren: at home Red Bull in recent months, prominent figures have passed through the door, and with them ideas and winning mentalities to be exported elsewhere.
The recent technical difficulties may not have been the direct consequence of Newey’s departure, but it is reasonable to think that with greater internal stability Red Bull could have responded better to McLaren’s growth. Stability which, however, has never been at home in Red Bull, not even on the drivers side, as the Milton Keynes team has frequently changed lineups mid-season: the latest case occurred just a few days ago, with Liam Lawson replaced Daniel Ricciardo.
Verstappen’s words
Red Bull is relying on one man, and it is no coincidence that it has built golden bridges for him in the latest contract: it is naturally Max Verstappenwho has an agreement with the team until the end of 2028. The tensions at the beginning of the year with Christian Horner and the courtship of Mercedes are not buried issues, but now the Dutchman speaks as a team man, underlining the strength of the collective that can overcome to excellent outputs: “I preferred that everyone stayed, but in the end you can’t block people. If you force them to stay when they no longer want to be here, perhaps it is better for them to accept a new challenge elsewhere, even if it would have been better for the team if everything had remained as it was“, these are the words of the three-time world champion Autosport. “It’s always been like this with successful teams, rivals start to tear them apart. You see it in every sport”.
“Things are working pretty well, it’s just that the results aren’t what we want right now. It’s up to us to change things as a team”, he continued. “We just took a wrong turn, so it was time to hit the reset button and go in a different direction. In the end it’s not just two or three people who make the difference, but the collective“.
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