'You Can't Stop People': Verstappen Reacts To Key Employees Leaving Red Bull

Friday, 11 October 2024 at 18:00

Max Verstappen shared his opinion on the situation as key figures from the top positions left Red Bull Racing to join other F1 teams.

When one F1 team becomes successful, it is inevitable that rival teams will try to persuade its best people to come and work for them.

Three high-profile figures have already announced their departures from Red Bull Racing throughout the 2024 season. It all began with Adrian Newey, but Jonathan Wheatley and Will Courtenay later joined him.

Adrian Newey was the Chief Technical Officer at Red Bull and went to Aston Martin as a Managing Technical Partner. Jonathan Wheatley was a Sporting Director at Red Bull and will become team boss at Sauber/Audi. Will Courtenay was the Head of Strategy and will join McLaren as Sporting Director.

Max Verstappen, who doesn't deny he has the option to leave Red Bull, reacted to this situation as he shared his thoughts in an interview with Motorsport.com:

"As I always said, I would have preferred if everyone had stayed, but in the end, you can't stop people."

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"If you force them to stay when they don't really want to be here anymore, if they are disappointed or don't fully get what they want, then maybe it's better for them to take up a new challenge elsewhere."

In another interview with Motorsport.com, Christian Horner admitted that Newey, Wheatley, and Courtenay received offers from other teams that Red Bull couldn't match financially and in terms of career progress.

On the other hand, he suggested that these departures allow for promotions and progress in the careers of other team members, like Hannah Schmitz, who could otherwise be poached by a different F1 team. Verstappen continued:

"Even if for the whole team collectively, it would have been better if everything had stayed the way it was."

"It's always been like that with successful teams, people will start picking them apart. You see that in any sport. And some people get such big offers from other teams that that plays a role as well."

Another problem for Red Bull is that the F1 team has started struggling on track amid all these departures. However, Verstappen doesn't think that's correlated and believes the Austrian team can get back on top soon with the people they still have. He added:

"I have faith that people know what they're doing, they've already shown that. Other teams have very good people too, but I don't think that's the issue right now. We just took a wrong turn, so it was time to hit the reset button and go in a different direction."

"At the end of the day it's not just two or three people who make the difference. It's about the collective. Everyone has to chip in and work well within their role, that's the most important thing."