During the Miami Grand Prix weekend, it was revealed that some important Red Bull staff members, like Jonathan Wheatley, have caught the eye of other teams.
Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren F1, mentioned they’ve received more job applications from Red Bull’s team. He thinks that with the disagreement between the Austrian and Thai sides of Red Bull, more staff might leave, possibly including legendary designer Adrian Newey.
Team boss Horner, however, isn’t worried about losing key members. He noted that Red Bull’s Powertrains division took over 200 people from Mercedes’ engine program.
“I don’t have any concern of the strength in depth. Of course, there is always going to be movement between teams,” Horner said.
“I don’t know how many people we or RB have employed from McLaren this year. Mercedes, we have taken 220 people out of HPP into Red Bull Powertrains.
“So, when we are talking about losing people, I would be a bit more worried about the 220 than maybe one or two CVs.”
Horner also mentioned that it’s common for Zak Brown and Toto Wolff, Mercedes’ team boss, to stir up things through the media.
“I think it is inevitable. The two candidates involved, they talk a lot,” Horner said.
“But I am not going to get sucked into a tit-for-tat. I would be more focused on Toto’s own issues that he has.”
Red Bull explained that it’s normal for some of their staff to move to other teams when contracts end. Wheatley, for example, might be leaving soon, and he’s been interested in becoming a team principal.
The team recently extended contracts for other key staff like Enrico Balbo, head of aerodynamics, and Ben Waterhouse, head of performance engineering. Technical director Pierre Wache also signed a new long-term deal earlier this year.
