So far, the 2024 Formula 1 season has stirred up more controversy at Red Bull due to off-track scandals, departures, and drama rather than sporting results. After Max Verstappen’s clear dominance in the first third of the championship, no one could have predicted that just a few months later, McLaren would dethrone the Milton Keynes team as the leading force, and Red Bull would be left depleted in terms of senior staff.
Within the span of twelve months, the Anglo-Austrian team has lost four of its key figures (Rob Marshall, Adrian Newey, Jonathan Wheatley, Will Courtenay), who had helped the team rise to the top of such a highly competitive and selective sport like Formula 1 in just a few years.
But the exodus may not be over yet. While Red Bull has managed to compensate for recent departures through a significant internal reorganization, the situation regarding Max Verstappen continues to worry the top management. Helmut Marko has repeatedly hinted that Max Verstappen’s threats to leave should be taken seriously.
Jeroen Bleekemolen, a current GT driver with a past in DTM and WEC, told *Formule1.nl* that it’s logical for technicians to be poached by other teams, as Marko has indicated. He noted that it’s a top-level sport, and other teams try to attract talented staff to weaken their competitors. He pointed out that this is how teams like Williams and McLaren eventually collapsed.
Jeroen Bleekemolen added that this could eventually lead to the end of Red Bull in Formula 1—not that they would pull the plug immediately, but there are many factors at play. He emphasized that if things go wrong and Max Verstappen leaves, the situation would worsen significantly, as the car wouldn’t place second, like with Sergio Perez, but would fall further behind.
He concluded by saying that if Red Bull finds itself in the midfield with its four cars, and the company’s other branch shifts its focus to another sport, they could simply decide to leave Formula 1 altogether.
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