Red Bull Counters Jibe From McLaren's CEO Zak Brown

Sunday, 05 May 2024 at 10:00

Red Bull's spokesperson responded to a remark made by McLaren CEO Zak Brown about Adrian Newey's departure.

It has been rumored for a while that things are boiling inside the Red Bull Racing team, and many suggest that Adrian Newey's recently announced departure is the result of that.

The chief technical officer signed a contract extension with the team from Milton Keynes only last year and was supposed to work there until the end of 2025, but he will now be leaving in the first quarter of 2025.

It should be noted that Newey didn't suggest his departure was in any way related to the internal politics of the Red Bull Racing F1 team.

Regardless, the departure of the legendary car designer is a huge blow for the team from Milton Keynes, and the CEO of McLaren's F1 team, Zak Brown, suggests he expects more people to follow. As reported by Racingnews365, he said:

"It's probably the first domino to fall, my guess is not the the last, based on the resumes flying around."

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The phrase "resumes flying around" suggests Brown knows about multiple people from Red Bull who inquired about possible job opportunities for his team.

This statement from the CEO of the Papaya team got a response when a Red Bull spokesperson told Racingnews365:

"In the past few months, all our technical leadership team have signed long-term contracts committing to Red Bull Racing."

"So we're not sure what CVs Zak is referring to but we don't foresee any significant loss, and certainly not the domino effect Zak is hoping for."

Both Christian Horner and Max Verstappen said they would prefer if Newey didn't leave, but they also emphasized they believe the team is strong enough to continue without him.

Many people inside Red Bull might be watching how their star driver responds to the situation, and Verstappen said his future stays the same—with the Austrian team.