Jos Verstappen is not surprised that more and more Red Bull staff are choosing to leave. Following the departures of Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley, top strategist Will Courtenay also announced his exit last week. Verstappen senior explains that he had previously warned this would happen, due to the power struggle within Red Bull and the controversy surrounding Christian Horner.
With head strategist Will Courtenay now opting for a new collaboration with McLaren, the exodus at the top of Red Bull is becoming increasingly significant. While the team struggles on the track to keep up with competitors McLaren and Ferrari, more and more employees are choosing to pursue challenges outside of Milton Keynes. The most notable departures are Adrian Newey, who recently made the long-awaited switch to Aston Martin, and sports director Jonathan Wheatley, who is becoming team boss at Audi.
‘Horner is trying to cover it up’
“This is what I warned about,” Jos Verstappen responded last weekend during the East Belgian Rally. “The team then says: ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter, we have someone else we can put in that position.’ But now there are really a lot of people who want to leave.”
The former Formula 1 driver is not wrong. At the start of the season in Bahrain, Jos Verstappen already predicted that the situation within Red Bull would explode. “The team is threatening to fall apart,” he said at the time. “It can’t go on like this. Horner is playing the victim, while he is the one causing the problems.”
According to Verstappen senior, his son Max is now suffering from this exodus. “Max is also constantly being asked about it,” he continued. “So yes, I think what is happening right now is just not good.” According to team boss Christian Horner, Red Bull has enough good people to fill the vacant positions – Jos Verstappen has less confidence in this. “Horner is trying, as always, to cover it up a bit,” he concluded.
