10/07/2025 12:40
Christian Horner's exit from Red Bull is the biggest departure from
a team in major transition since it crushed the F1 field in 2023.
Since the year it won 21 of 22 races, Red Bull has now lost its
team principal, chief technical officer, sporting director, design
chief, head of strategy and chief mechanic, the latter working on
Max Verstappen's side of the garage. This would be like Mercedes
losing Toto Wolff, James Allison, Ron Meadows, John Owen, Rosie
Wait and Matt Deane in two years. Below, RacingNews365 takes a
look at the five key departures which ultimately doomed Horner and
set his departure in motion. Adrian Newey Perhaps the biggest blow
to Red Bull in the post-Dietrich Mateschitz world, losing Adrian
Newey in early 2024, took away the one area papering over the
cracks at Red Bull: performance. Verstappen won seven of the first
10 races in 2024, including three of the five immediately following
the announcement of Newey's exit ahead of the Miami GP. But the
RB20 struggled thereafter. New technical lead Pierre Waché has been
unable to return the car to the dominant machine it was at the
start of 2024, and despite all of Horner's claims that the
post-Newey Red Bull era could continue to be as strong as before,
that is putting numerous layers of gloss over a situation created
by Newey's departure. You simply cannot lose someone of Newey's
experience and expertise, especially with ground-effect cars, and
not expect a massive drop-off. Jonathan Wheatley Jonathan Wheatley
was Red Bull's rules man and fixer. The sporting director of the
team it was his job to run the pit-crew, make calls over
controversial incidents and liaise with the FIA. On two occasions
this year, evidence of the Wheatley-less Red Bull was witnessed in
Saudi Arabia and Spain. In Jeddah, the new Stake team principal
indicated he would have told Max Verstappen to immediately give the
lead up to Oscar Piastri, given their Turn 1 coming together. Red
Bull did not, and the Dutchman was handed a race-costing
five-second time penalty. In Spain, Red Bull wrongly told
Verstappen to cede position to George Russell, leading to the Turn
5 collision. Wheatley was as important to the sporting side of Red
Bull as Newey was to the technical team. A wily, battle-hardened
racer who knew his rulebook better than the FIA. Not having that
voice on the pit wall is going to blunt your attack. Will
Courtenay Will Courtenay is still employed by Red Bull and is being
made to work out his contract after agreeing to join McLaren as
sporting director in September 2024. His contract runs until
mid-2026, meaning he is on the pit wall calling strategy for Red
Bull, against the team he has agreed to join. Horner was keen to
play up the role of Hannah Schmitz as Courtenay's deputy, and
whilst he might not be the biggest name, Courtenay's planned exit
is further erosion of the tight-knit Red Bull senior team. Rob
Marshall Another Newey lieutenant, Rob Marshall's departure in
summer 2023, was the first domino to fall. The Red Bull veteran
had been with the team for 17 years, but was enticed by a huge
offer from McLaren to become engineering and design technical
director, a chance to step up given that chief technical officer
Newey was, at the time, going nowhere. Marshall oversaw Red Bull's
growth in the Sebastian Vettel era, then its demise in the
turbo-hybrids before rising again to conquer Mercedes in 2021 and
demolishing the field in the ground-effect era. The Red Bull
brain-drain started with Marshall. Lee Stevenson Lee Stevenson
might not be a household name, but he played an integral role on
Verstappen's car, as the chief mechanic. Prior to his departure in
March 2024, Stevenson had been at Verstappen's side for all 56 of
his grand prix wins and three titles to that point. A chief
mechanic is basically the link between the engineering team and the
mechanics, meaning a key cog in the Verstappen chain was broken
with his departure to Stake. Stevenson might not be as important
an exit as Newey, for example, but his exit completes the
technical, sporting, engineering, and mechanical implosion at the
team in the last two years.
