The last few months have been quite turbulent for Red Bull, with many goodbyes. After designer Adrian Newey announced his exit in May, the Milton Keynes team will also see sporting director Jonathan Wheatley fly in the direction of Sauber/Audi, while head of strategy Will Courtenay will join McLaren in the future.
Their departures come after a tumultuous year for Red Bull off the track. Behind-the-scenes tensions at management level first emerged at pre-season testing in Bahrain, when an investigation into alleged misconduct by team boss Christian Horner – a case later dropped – became public knowledge . Before then, Red Bull had already lost designer Rob Marshall, who moved to McLaren where he is one of the pawns of the 2024 successes.
At the time Verstappen had warned of the prospect of losing what he called “pillars” of Red Bull’s history, with the prospect of potentially leaving the team due to its internal turmoil, especially when the position of his mentor Helmut Marko was been questioned.
Adrian Newey, Chief Technology Officer, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
“I signed until 2028, so it is very important that certain pillars remain in place,” the three-time world champion explained at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Speaking to Motorsport.com in Singapore, six months after that statement in Jeddah, it is clear that Verstappen has not left the team, with Red Bull now choosing to promote from within to fill the gaps. GianPiero Lambiase, Verstappen’s long-time race engineer, is one of the members entrusted with broader responsibilities within the new management structure.
But Verstappen knows that it would be difficult for Red Bull to keep the team intact for the next few years, especially with rivals aggressively trying to hire key figures of the Anglo-Austrian team’s successes. It is clear that the market is always in turmoil, but at the moment the opponents are trying to snatch key elements to strengthen their staff by providing leading roles, which perhaps would not have been possible to achieve in Red Bull. “Well, we didn’t do it very well!”, Verstappen said, laughing, before giving a more detailed answer.
“As I’ve always said, I wish they had all stayed but, in the end, you can’t stop people from leaving. If you force them to stay when they don’t want to be here anymore, if they’re disappointed or not fully getting what they want, then maybe it’s better for them to accept a new challenge elsewhere. Even if it would have been better for the whole team if everything had remained as it was. It’s always been like this with teams that win, people start to take them apart sports. And some get such big offers from other teams that that plays a role too.”
Jonathan Wheatley, Team Manager, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Other key figures such as head of engineering Ben Waterhouse and head of aerodynamics Enrico Balbo extended their contracts earlier in the year. Verstappen is therefore confident that Red Bull has the right technical leadership to take the team forward in the post-Newey era, also having a good relationship with technical director Pierre Wache. “We have a great relationship, Pierre and I talk a lot,” he explained.
“When I’m at the factory, I always try to meet him. He’s very motivated and I like to be involved. Things are working quite well, just that the results are not what we would like at the moment. It’s up to us to change things as a team.”
“I have faith that people know what they are doing, they have already proven it. Other teams also have very good people, but I don’t think that’s the problem right now. We just took a wrong turn, so it was time to push the button to reset and go in a different direction.”
“In the end it’s not just two or three people who make the difference. It’s the collective that makes the difference. Everyone must contribute and work well within their role, this is the most important thing.”
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