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Laurence Edmondson, F1 Editor
Max Verstappen’s father, Jos, believes “too many” big name engineers are leaving Red Bull and said he warned the team it would happen earlier this year.
Jos Verstappen raised concerns about the management of Red Bull during the opening round of the 2024 season in Bahrain after team principal Christian Horner was accused of controlling behaviour by a female employee.
“It can’t go on the way it is. It will explode”, he told the Daily Mail. “There is tension here while he remains in position.”
Horner was cleared of wrongdoing following an internal investigation launched by the Red Bull parent company and retained his position at the team.
However, in the months that followed, several key members of the Red Bull team have announced their upcoming departure from the team as results on track have dipped.
In May, it was confirmed that chief technical officer Adrian Newey would leave in early 2025 and it has since been announced he will join rivals Aston Martin.
Sporting director Jonathan Wheatley is set to leave Red Bull to become team principal of Audi’s new F1 project next year, while head of strategy, Will Courtenay, is set to leave for McLaren when his contract expires.
“Yes, this is what I warned about”, Jos Verstappen told Motorsport.com at a rally in Belgium last weekend.
“The team then says: ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter, we have someone else [who we can put on that position].’
“But it’s too many people now [leaving].
“And Max gets questions about it every time and so on. So yeah, I think it’s just not good, what’s happening at the moment.”
Max Verstappen’s own future at the team was in question this year until Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff met with the his management over the summer break and broke off talks.
The three-time world champion is set to stay at Red Bull for 2025 and has a contract until the end of 2028, but has still been linked to a move away from the team for 2026.
Source: www.espn.com