At the opening of the 2024 season, Red Bull was still the absolute benchmark in the peloton. Winner of the last three drivers’ titles, with Max Verstappen, and the last two constructors’ titles, the Milton Keynes structure clearly flew over the competition in 2022, and even more so in 2023 where it won no less than 21 of the 22 Grands Prix on the program .
The current campaign seemed to be starting on the same basis, with Verstappen winning four of the first five Grands Prix. But the McLaren threat became more and more insistent from the Miami Grand Prix, where Lando Norris won his first race in F1. Max Verstappen won twice again subsequently, but his success at the Spanish GP on June 23 remains, to this day, his last victory, and that of Red Bull this season.
In the process, two major executives of the Red Bull team announced their departure to join the competition. Jonathan Weathley, its sporting director, will leave the team to join the Audi F1 project where he will occupy the position of sporting director. Above all, the iconic designer Adrian Newey, linked to the team since its beginnings in 2005, will join Aston Martin next March.
If these major departures seem to further weaken the Red Bull building, Helmut Marko, the team’s special advisor, wants to put these departures and their motivations into perspective.
The departure of Adrian Newey constitutes a real turning point in the history of Red Bull in F1.
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
“When you win – and we won the last three years, and we dominated everything in 2023 – the employees are of course coveted by other teams,” declared Marko on the microphone of the Austrian television channel ORF. “It’s a usual game in Formula 1. What leaves me a little perplexed are the amounts offered. We are always faced with the cost limit. And these employees are often offered double or even more. This means that we couldn’t keep some of them.”
“Newey worked with us for 17 years, Wheatley for 19 years. They were part of the team, part of our success. It hurts, but if they leave for financial reasons, for career reasons, because you can’t keep up with the offers, that’s the way it is.”
Furthermore, Helmut Marko believes that the disappearance of Dietrich Mateschitz, the emblematic founder of the Red Bull brand, who died in October 2022, also influenced the management of the company.
“Of course, the death of Dietrich Mateschitz brought about some change,” he continues. “He was the de facto sole leader. He made quick decisions. He was a charismatic entrepreneur who also had a real vision and was willing to take risks with the team. And all that, of course, disappeared. .”
“The company and everything else has to be organized differently, because you can’t find another person like him, and he can’t be replaced by someone else. This can also be part of the change…I think that’s the main reason why Newey decided to look for a new challenge.”
At the start of the season, the team led by Christian Horner was also shaken by internal tensions following accusations of harassment by the latter towards one of his employees. An affair which did not contribute to bringing serenity within the Red Bull team.
“Let’s just say it didn’t help,” continues Helmut Marko. “But internally we came together and said we need to join forces, work together in all areas to bring this world championship home and have a winning car for the future.”
Could Max Verstappen leave F1 in the near future?
Photo de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
“Because one thing is clear: if we don’t provide Max Verstappen with a car he can win with in the long term, all these top driver contracts have performance-related exit clauses, and Max will surely see his future where we’ll give him the best package as long as he enjoys it, there’s this other factor that comes into play.”
As he has already repeated, Helmut Marko is convinced that Max Verstappen would have no problem leaving F1, if he lacked motivation, the Dutchman having recently expressed his fed up after being punished by the FIA for swearing at a press conference. “Max is not like Alonso or Hamilton, who will race as long as their physical condition allows them to be competitive”adds Marko. “He wants to win, but whether he wins four, five or six world championships is not his main goal. He wants to enjoy his sport and everything he does. He wants an environment in which he feels at ease.”
When asked if he expected Max Verstappen to remain in F1 with Red Bull, and as world champion in 2025, Helmut Marko concluded with this sentence: “And ideally with someone from our junior program.”
